The Stuff Inbetween
by drawingdreams77
Summary: its how i think campers and complications and everything else after that should go. cause im not really likin how everything's going by so fast...Elliot and Ally should give it a shot, tensions should be brewing, etc. i really dont know where its gonna go, but itll end up where you want it to, dont worry. depends on whos side youre on...:D rated teen just cause
1. Guess Who's Here!

**SO this is my first story. Yup. i really just made a fanfic account so i could keep track of all the amazing stories on here, but i was getting frustrated. in austin and ally, i think everything was too abrupt; things should go on a little slower, you know?**

**so i started writing what i think should happen in campers and complications, but it ended up as something different. soooooo...yeah. man! i keep on saying "so". so (sorry, last time...i think) i need a disclaimer, right?**

**Disclaimer: no, a newly 15 year old girl does not own austin and ally. if i did, i probably wouldnt be writing here.**

***by the way, this is my first romance story too. i only write action stories but as much as i hate to admit it i love (some of) the mushy gushy stuff! and an austin and ally action story? haha i just made myself laugh. ok. ima stop typing here. now. right. now! read! ugh! sorry!**

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Ally tried avoiding them as much as possible, keeping herself busy by attending to every little detail in the (conveniently being sarcastic) slow store. It was a Monday, so not many customers were there. Ally was already ready to close up shop, even though she had only been working an hour. _Still two more to go…whoo._

Who was she avoiding? The conspicuous (and annoyingly cute) couple right where the chairs were, in the front of the store. Austin and Keira had been going out for about a week now, and they were so cute and lovey-dovey, that Ally wasn't sure whether to hug them or to strangle them.

She loved romance! And she loved them together! Austin, one of her best friends, and Keira, a really sweet girl = harmonious happiness. She wanted them to be happy, she really did. But there was that aching feeling in the pit of her stomach whenever she saw them together. Oh, and those painful shots in her chest when they kissed. And ugh! The worst feeling – the blanketed rage lurking in the corner when Austin gave Keira that smile…

Yup. She liked Austin.

Yes! Ally had admitted it. When her and Austin had that moment…

**Flashback**

"_Austin!" Ally scolded. "Be serious. Imagine…" she led him down to the blanket and they both sat down. "…Keira's there," she poses like how Keira would have sat. "Her eyes sparkling in the moonlight – sparkle, sparkle, sparkle, sparkle," she says, all into this imaginary date, moving her head back and forth as she emphasizes each sparkle._

_Austin comes a tiny bit forward. He looks at her like she is too weird…but cute? In a way?_

_Ally doesn't notice as she goes on with her spiel. "A gentle breeze blows her hair – breeze, breeze, breeze, breeze." With every breeze, her tiny hand swooshes her hair back, her pretty hair…_

_Austin gives her a skeptical look, but he hides a smile within it. Ally gives him her full attention. "What can you do to show her how you feel?!"_

"_Well…I could give her a gift! Ooo! I'll get her a necklace with her name on it – like yours!" he gestures to the necklace that Ally was currently wearing. It plainly said 'Ally' on it._

_She looks down and touches it. Ally gives him a smile and a nod and says, "Perfect. She'll love that."_

"_Okay, so…I'll wait for the most romantic part of the movie," he says, much to Ally's enjoyment. _Aah, my work here is almost done! Now I know why teachers feel so accomplished when their students get As.

"_She'll be all cute and lovey," Ally adds._

"_I'll lean in…" and on cue, he scooches close enough so that there's only a breath between them. He closes the gap, saying, "…put my arm around her…" and he does this to Ally._

"_She'll nuzzle up…" Ally puts her head on Austin's shoulder and gets cozy. Austin exhales, like he wasn't expecting that, but it…it felt right. He smiles. "…feeling butterflies." She smiles._

"_My hear t'll be beating out of my chest," he says with the utmost sureness. "It'll be…"_

"_Perfect." They this together, seemingly thinking the same thoughts. They sit there, like this, cuddling, and then…_

_What were they doing? This was silly. They faced each other, smiling…growing serious…_

"_I _KNOW_ HOW TO GET KEIRA TO YOUR DATE!" Dez bursts in. He holds a fishing net and…is that a tranquilizer dart?_

**End Flashback**

Ally laughed to herself at the memory. Then she shook her head. This was a week ago and Keira is in the picture…no. Nonononono - no. Ally went back to doing whatever it was she was doing.

**A minute ago…**

Austin sneaked a quick glance at one of his best friends. Ally. She looked like she was in another world, her big brown eyes sparkling and a shy smile forming upon her soft, pink lips. She looked _really_ –

"Austin? What're you lookin' at?" Keira asked, noticing that their game of thumb wars had stopped. Before she could look up at him, he furtively redirected his gaze on the door.

"Oh um, just watching for Trish. She usually comes around at this time." Which was true. Austin turned back to Keira, a faltering smile on his face. What just happened? _Did I just think that Ally –_

"Okay. Come on – let's play!" Keira didn't seem to notice that Austin was troubled. She excitedly looked back down at their intertwined hands. He forgot everything and started to kick some thumb once again.

**Present**

"GUESS WHO GOT A JOB AT (umm I really don't know…sorry!)!" Trish walked in.

Ally smiled. "Finally!" she exclaimed. She walked out from behind the register and up to Trish. In a quieter voice she whispered, "I have been so bored without you." When she says this, she quickly points her head in the direction of the giggling couple.

Trish gives her an 'I'm sorry!' look. "I totally forgot that Austin and Keira were going to be here! And the store is always slow on Mondays…" she whispered back. "You know what? I'm going to get your mind off of this. You need to date." Trish moves past her, walking behind the counter.

"Whaaat? Pssh I'm okay," Ally smiles, her voice back to its regular volume level. Trish rolled her eyes. Ally awkwardly posed. "See? I'm cool!"

"ALLY! Are you alright? Do you need a doctor?!" Dez entered a store with a shriek.

She gave him a confused look, and stopped posing, facing him. "No…I'm okay…are you?" she asked slowly.

The crazy redhead let out a huge breath. "Whew! You were just posing! I thought you were having a seizure!" Trish started laughing.

Ally pouted, crossed her arms, and said, "I thought I looked cool!" she whined.

"And that's the day Dez starts being smart!" she laughed harder.

Dez laughed. "Yeah!" He held up a hand for a high-five. The short girl gave him a look, shook her head, and walked out from behind the counter.

She turned her back to him. "So, as I was saying, Ally, you need a guy..to…you know…" her eyes gestured to the unsuspecting blond.

It was Ally's turn to roll her eyes. "Trish, I'm fine! Really!"

"Are you guys talking about the Bee Whisperer season finale?" Dez choked up. "Because it really touched me! Ally, it's okay to admit it – I'm not quite alright either." He put a hand on her shoulder. Ally laughed while Trish gave Dez a glare.

"But seriously Ally…you kinda have to cause…"

"Trish! What did you do?!"

"What did who do?" Austin asked. He and Keira heard the commotion and wanted to be in on it.

"Nothing!" Ally and Trish squeaked simultaneously. Austin looked confused.

"Don't worry dude. I don't get it either," Dez walked over to Austin's side. They faced the two girls on one side of the store, and the girls faced them on the other. A tumbleweed rolled past. Keira was the only was that noticed; everyone was giving each other a staredown.

"Did anyone just notice – "

"ALLY?!" a deep voice exclaimed. Ally turned towards it, curious. Everyone did simultaneously.

A moment passed. "E-elliot? OH MY GOSH ELLIOT!" Ally screamed.

They ran towards each other and gave each other a passionate embrace. Everyone was shocked, except for Trish. She had a huge smile/smirk on her face.

"Hunk alert!" Dez yelled next to Austin. Austin. He stared at the couple, shock and…could that be…jealousy?...plainly on his face. It looked like someone he knew just punched him in the face. And maybe…someone did.

Ally broke away from the hug first. Her arms were around Elliot's neck and his muscled arms around her waist. She gave him a good look. He had messy brown hair, and laughing chocolate eyes. He had a flawless face and a hard jaw. He was taller now, with lots of muscles, and he got contacts. Ally remembered his cute Harry Potter glasses. They looked great together. Everyone was just staring at them staring at each other for a minute or two. She looked so safe in those huge arms, and so tiny next to him.

"Ahem!" Austin was the first to break the silence. Ally and Elliot turned their heads toward him, without breaking their lock.

Ally laughed. She was so giddy! "Oh Elliot!" And with that, she hugged him again. Finally, they let go of each other. Ally put her hands on his hard shoulders. She laughed again, not being able to speak words.

Elliot shined. Trish shook her head, smiling. Dez was taking out his camera to catch this happy moment. Keira smiled widely for them. Austin looked like he just lost something. Something really important.

Elliot laughed too. "Okay, I'll go first," he says, talking to just Ally. "I moved a couple weeks ago. Here." Ally's grin was enormous. "And I saw the magazines, the fansites, and…" his eyes faced Trish for just a second, not willing to leave Ally's face for more than that. Ally noticed and turned to Trish, to Elliot's slight disappointment. She was still there, with him. And he was so, so _happy_, just looking at his beautiful Ally.

"Oh my gosh! Thanks Trish!" she almost tackled Trish with a choking hug.

"Wait...what?" Austin asked, raising himself out of his stupor, voice cracking.

"They obviously are old friends so when Trish found out Elliot was here, she made plans to surprise Ally!" Dez said, sounding…smart. Yeah, smart!

Austin just kept on staring at Ally. She was so happy! And because of this…Elliot person. If that even was his real name. _Maybe he was an alien and he's lying about being Elliot cause he sucked a nerdier Elliot's brains and from Elliot's brains he could turn into a more handsome version of Elliot and since Elliot's brains tasted so good the alien decided to suck on smart people's brains like Ally so that means that the guy right there is really an alien so I should just try to keep them apart cause Elliot's evil and I won't let him take Ally away from me because I need Ally I need Ally I need Ally I NEED A-_

"Austin? Austin? Austin!" Ally yelled. He looked at her. "Um, Austin, no offense, but you're making Elliot feel uncomfortable." He realized that everybody was giving him a confused look. He also realized that he had been giving Elliot the death glare the whole time his mind had been rambling.

"Oh," Austin scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed. "Sorry," he mumbled. Trish gave him a questioning look. He pretended he didn't see it. Keira looked worried.

"Austin? You want me to walk you home or something?" she asked, a bit worried. Austin did not ever, give the death glare, or at least she thought he didn't. She rubbed his arm.

Ally was worried too. The only time he gave that look was when Trent asked her for a song. This was weird. Austin wasn't like this. He was open-minded – he usually didn't judge by appearances, and Elliot hadn't even said a word to him! _Maybe I should talk to him –_

"Yeah, Keira. I think I need it," he said, confused. _It's probably not that bad, right? I mean, I've only known Austin for about a year or so…and I've spent much of that time with him…and we're close so I should go talk to him!_

"Au – "

"Ally!" Trish elbowed her furtively, almost unnoticeable. Ally gave her a questioning look.

_Austin, Austin, Austin. You, my bleach-blond- singing/dancing muchacha of a friend, are a wiiiide, open book._ Dez shook his head. _DRAAAA-MAAAA!_

_Wait. Does - ? _Trish looked at Ally's worried face, Elliot's jealous one, and the shaking of Dez's head. _Oh. My. Gosh. _Trish made a decision right there._ I'm sorry Austin but you have Keira, and Ally finally has someone too. Of course you realize this now. _She did an inward scoff._ Ally and Elliot _will_ work, because you will _not_ ruin it for her. _Austin and Keira walked out. _I promise you that, Austin._

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**and this is where it stops being campers and complications. hmm. where shall i go with this? uhh so review please! thanks! and im sorry if i left you hanging, but im not so sure that ill continue this. i was just in a writing mood. but uhh follow this if you like it, and i may or may not continue it. thanks for reading! hope i didnt waste your time! ok bye you bookworms you!**


	2. Confliction and Some Bonding

**hey! so sorry this update has been awhile (trust me, i sympathize with you), but i offer this as a peace offering. i hope you like it!**

**i would tell you what i want to happen, but the story wouldnt be as fun if i told (or typed?) you! but im definitely gonna give Elliot a shot. i mean, he seems awesome! but anyway, im really just making it up as i go along, so if you guys wanna suggest somethin, go ahead. but i will keep my super secret ending no matter what...youll love it, dont worry :)**

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Ally was humming her way through work the next day. Trish and Elliot were talking animatedly about how lame the social studies teacher was. They all would have been talking together, but Trish wanted some one-on-one with Elliot (he wondered why), and besides, Ally promised to teach him to play an instrument by the end of the month.

"Yeah, and then he went on about how people were disrespectful and too talkative while looking _right at me_," Trish ranted.

"I saw that! And then you just went right back to sleep," Elliot laughed.

"Well, I'd rather do something useful with my time than listening to Mr. Linope complain about me. Plus, his speech was a great way to make me fall asleep!" Elliot laughed again and "glanced" at Ally.

"Here's your change! Come again soon!" Ally babbled to the leaving customer. Every chocolate-stained hair on her head was curled into a perfect wave. And how it framed that beautiful face of hers…such soft looking cheeks…and those full, red lips forming those butterflies deep in his stomach…

"Elliot!" Trish yelled. "Snap out of it!"

Elliot realized that his planned "glance" turned into an all-out stare. "Oh! I am so sorry, Trish. What were you saying?" he asked her, hoping to divert the conversation from the question he knew Trish would ask.

"Hmm, checking out a certain someone?" she teased (he didn't wonder why anymore).

"Trish – "

"Does she happen to have wavy brown hair, big brown eyes, and…oh, what am I forgetting?"

"Tri – "

"Right! That her name is Ally?" she smirked.

Elliot blushed. "Nooo idea what yooouuu're talking about!" he expressed, complete with the exaggerated hand gestures.

"Huh. Guess my looove radar is off today!" she giggled.

"Trish! Not so loudly!" Elliot whispered.

"Afraid someone, specifically IN THIS VERY STORE might hear us?" she said quite loudly.

"Trish!" he hissed. "I'm serious!"

She saw the seriousness of his face and backed off…from the teasing, not the prying. "We're friends too you know. I've known you as long as Ally has. Now spill," she lowered her voice.

Elliot sighed, knowing she was right. "Yeah, you're right," he admitted. "But since you're Ally's best friend and all, I thought that you would…tell her. And I want to be the one to tell her that I like her. A lot," he smiled shyly.

Trish almost died. "Yeah. I know what you're saying," she smiled. "You know what? For our friendship's sake, we can save the overprotective 'don't hurt my best friend' speech. Okay?"

"Thanks Trish," Elliot said gratefully. "But you know I would never do that - especially to Ally, right?" Elliot became very serious.

"I know." Trish stood up. "Well, I better go to wherever I got a job yesterday. I think my shift started about three hours ago," she shrugged. Elliot watched her go, glad to be friends with her, as Dez entered.

"GUESS WHAT?!" Dez yelled. Ally leaned on the counter, getting comfortable (this could take a while) as Elliot walked up to the counter and faced Dez.

"What?" Ally asked, curious.

"Leaving Teardrops is on in the park today at six! Who wants to come?!" he exclaimed.

"Is that the new romance movie that came out? Pssh yeah!" Ally came out from the counter and high-fived Dez. They were movie buddies ever since Dez confessed that he was into romance films.

"Uh, I'll come too!" Elliot joined in.

"To what?" Austin entered the store grouchily, really only because it was Elliot who Austin saw first.

"Leaving Teardrops at six in the park! Wanna come?" Dez nudged Austin with his elbow.

"Zombies?"

"No."

"Blood?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Violence of any sort?"

"No-pe."

"Then why would I want to go?" Austin said with a cranky attitude.

"Austin! You didn't even hear what it's about!" Ally jumped in, amped up. "It's all about the love triangle between these two guys who are in love with this one girl. One of them is perfect for her and the other one her complete opposite! And her parents are forcing her to marry another guy! It's set in the 18th century too, just like Pride and Prejudice! BONUS!" Again, she and Dez high-five. "Pride and Prejudice is our favorite movie together," Ally explained when everyone gave them weird looks.

Austin likes this story. So relatable, so…familiar (besides the whole marrying part)? As to what, he wasn't sure. And if Elliot was going…"I'll come too!" Austin announced.

Ally and Dez shot him incredulous looks. "But you _hate_ lovey-dovey movies!" Dez countered.

"Well…what's one movie? And besides, I might like it," Austin sheepishly said. He was so confused! Last night, all he did was lay in bed thinking about Elliot and Ally. How Elliot could make her laugh so much, make her eyes twinkle, and bring about that genuine smile. How he just _had_ to be handsome. Maybe Ally only liked Elliot as a friend? Yeah. He was reading way too much into it. And besides, why should the idea of one of his best friends being happy with another person bother him so much? Austin stayed on the computer for the rest of that night, not willing to delve into _that _subject as long as possible.

"But don't you and Keira always eat at the diner on Tuesdays?" Ally asked.

"Yeah but…speaking of Keira, where is she?" Austin distracted Ally.

"Out of all of us, shouldn't you know? Being her _boyfriend_ and all?" Elliot asked, finally speaking to Austin. Elliot didn't expect that out of his own mouth. Since when was he snappy? And saying that to someone, for the very first time, was rude. And Elliot Connors was _not _rude.

"Why don't you stop poking into my business?" Austin snapped back. They were getting closer, and Austin had an ugly look on his face. Ally darted inbetween the two guys, feeling the tension. She put one hand on Elliot's chest, and the other on Austin's. She realized with a small smile that they both worked out.

_Snap of it, Ally! _she scolded herself, and focused back on the brewing rage between her two friends. "Guys! Hey!" They both looked at her, and backed off.

Elliot stepped away, a bit afraid of himself. _What's going on with me?_ He regained his composure and said calmly, "I apologize, Ally." He gave her an apologetic look and turned to Austin. "And sorry to you too, Austin. We got off on the wrong foot. I never got to meet you yesterday." Austin was taken aback at this guy's manners. But it was true; they never got to talk. Elliot, Trish, Dez, and Ally stayed up late last night catching up, getting to know each other, and explaining their school to Elliot, but Austin went home early because of…he wasn;t quite sure what. "Soo, hey Austin. I'm Elliot." He forced a smile onto his dashing face and extended a hand.

Austin slowly shook it.

"Well, now that the drama's over," Dez stared down the two guys in front of him and turned to Ally, "you want me to ask Trish to come too, right?" he said, a bit disappointed.

Cautiously taking her eyes off of the two ticking time bombs before her (and kinda admiring Elliot for being such a gentleman) she looked at Dez. "Would you please?" she asked with big, brown, puppy dog eyes. She looked back at Austin. "And maybe Keira would like to come too?" she managed, a slight distaste in her mouth. She absolutely loved Keira! She was a sweet, sweet girl, but Ally still liked Austin, just a bit, and seeing them make cute faces at each other during the movie…ugh. _Waait. Who am I kidding?! My eyes are going to be glued to the screen the whole time!_ she laughed to herself.

"Uhh, sure I'll text her," he said, taking out his phone. "But since she feels the same way about zombies movies like I do, then…" He finished texting and put away his phone. "…she probably won't – " he was cut short by a beep coming from a pocket in his jeans. He took out his phone and saw that it was Keira, surprised that Keira had replied so fast:

OMG! sure i 333 those kinda movies! n its starrin chris pine!

"Um, Keira would like to come too, but I don't want to impose on you gu –" Austin started.

"No! It's fine. Plus, maybe Keira can keep you company while you sleep," Ally said, a bit bitter. Again – Keira was a great girl and all but…

"Okay then. Six?" Austin sighed.

"Yup! This is gonna be GREAT!" Dez exclaimed, then ran off to find Trish. He knew one place she wouldn't be – at her job. That knocked off one place out of the whole mall. He sighed. If only she ever answered her phone. Off he went, which brings us back to Ally, Elliot, and Austin.

"Hey Austin, you okay?" Ally stepped closer. Elliot watched intensely as Austin's defenses fell down. _Hmm…_

Austin flashed a half-hearted grin. "You can always see right through me, Ally."

Ally smiled and came closer. "It's one of the many great qualities of DJ Ally D!" She flicked her hair back in a mocking manner, but Austin saw the soft, brown hair in slow motion…

Elliot tensed. He walked toward them, forgotten by them. "Yeah Austin, something bothering you?" he came up protectively by Ally's side.

Austin suddenly noticed the handsome guy beside Ally, and his defenses came right back up. "I'd rather not talk about it," he said quietly to the ground.

Ally sensed Elliot behind her and turned around. They were awfully close to each other once she turned around to him, and really close to his chiseled muscles, his friendly, green eyes, and that cologne!... Ally snapped herself out of it and said, "Hey um, can I have a minute with Austin? Why don't I meet you up in the practice room so I can give you those music lessons?"

Something flashed in Elliot's eyes, but before Ally could read it he walked away, saying, "Okay, meet you up there!"

"So you're not only teaching him, but you're teaching him in _our_ practice room?" Austin sounded hurt.

"Well, first of all: why not? And second: exactly – it's _our_ practice room. _Ours_. Meaning we could invite anybody up there if we wanted to," Ally pointed out.

"What if he broke something?" Austin debated.

"Really, Austin, really?" she countered. They both knew that Dez broke things in there on a weekly basis. "The thing that's bothering you…does it have something to do with Elliot?" she whispered. Ally bit her lip. She hoped it didn't.

"What?! No! No, it's just that…I don't know…" he hesitated.

Ally was starting to feel hurt. Since when did Austin hide things from her? She rubbed her hands on his both of his arms. "What aren't you telling me Austin? You know you can tell me anything!" she quietly urged.

Austin was in deep waters. He wanted to tell her…but then there was Keira, and their friendship…too much to lose. Oh but she was so close, and her touch was so comforting. He wanted to hug her and kiss her. He shook his head, thinking _don't do this to me, Ally_.

She took that shake of his head as a punch to the stomach. Her arms went limp, and her warm touch on his arms were gone. "Okay then, Austin. Just talk to me when you're ready then," she faked a smile, then ran up the stairs.

"Ally! Ally, wait!" Austin missed her warmth. He saw the hurt in her eyes before she went, and the crack in her voice as she promised him some solace. He did that. He made one of his best friends sad. He couldn't live with that. He ran up the stairs, but by the time he got there, Ally was already with Elliot, laughing.

Austin needed some pancakes, and soon.

**In the practice room…**

Elliot was choosing a guitar when Ally burst into the room upset. She closed the door and leaned on it. She put a fragile hand to her head and combed her fingers halfway through her head while slowly collapsing from standing to sitting.

"Ally?" Elliot said, putting the guitar down. He squatted down in front of her. "You need some help there?" he asked, a sad smile on his face.

Ally looked at Elliot, an innocent smile on his face, all worried about her. He was trying to comfort her – how sweet! She managed a smile. "Yeah, yeah thanks." He tried helping her up, but somehow their arms were tangled together with Ally's hair, and so of course, Ally fell.

With her fell Elliot.

They laughed at this. It was so funny! "Ally, you're so clumsy," Elliot laughed.

"Hey! Don't laugh! Whenever I fall, you're going down with me!" she giggled.

"Literally," he smiled. They didn't realize until now that Elliot was partly on her because that was how they fell. Because their arms were tangled, Elliot's two elbows were beside her head, making him all she saw. Her arms were over her head entangled with his. Somehow, Elliot found one of her hands among the mess of her hair and squeezed it. And their faces…so close…too close…

Ally bit her lip. Elliot's stomach fluttered even more, if that was possible. "So…about that lesson…" she said blushing.

Elliot stopped his beautiful gaze on her. She missed it the second his green ones left hers. "Right. But I think we have to deal with the situation at 'hand' here," Elliot winked.

She laughed. She really found anything funny. "Nice one! I would give you a high-five right now but…"

"Kinda 'tied' up right now?" She laughed even harder, and his smile reached the corners of his face. That laugh…

"No! No! Stop it!" she said weakly, between laughs.

He laughed too. "Okay, okay…bu-uutt…" he sing-songed. "You have to say I am the greatest basket weaver who ever lived!" he exclaimed, a mischievious look in his eye.

"You monster!" she giggled, out of breath.

"Fine. Then what's the difference between roast beef and pea soup?"

"What?" she asked, suddenly curious and serious at the same time.

"Anybody can roast beef," he smiled cheekily.

A flit of confusion contoured her face, until it hit her a second later. She laughed hard. "Okay! Okay! I'll do it!" she choked out between giggles.

Elliot laughed along with her giggles. "I'm waiting!" he smiled.

"You are the – "

"Hmm? What?"

"You Are The – "

"I can't hear y – "

"YOU, ELLIOT, ARE THE GREATEST BASKET WEAVER WHO EVER LIVED!" she yelled almost directly in his ear.

"Ow, that hurt!" he mock-hurted. Then he gave her a huge smile. "But so worth it!"

Ally rolled her eyes and said, "You're gonna – "

CLICK. Trish had opened the door and saw the two on the floor.

"Trish!" Ally said. Elliot whipped his head around, shocked.

"Just one question. What, exactly, was worth it?" she teased, mischievious.

They both got up, still entangled. "Trish – " Elliot started.

She put both hands out, like a stop sign. "No, no. Don't stop whatever you were doing on my account." Trish made to leave the scene.

Ally blushed, but she knew that they needed help from Trish to untangle them. "You mind, uh, untangling us?" Ally said awkwardly.

Trish flashed a devilish grin. "Sure thing. But no guarantee it won't involve scissors, questions, and a lot of pain."

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**:D so i read your reviews, and i absolutely adore you guys for them. please, review away! until i started this story, i never got why all of the authors on here had an insatiable desire for reviews - but now, now i know. please review! what do you guys predict will happen next? what do you guys ****_want_**** to happen? **


	3. Some Jealously and Some Moments

**hehehe! i shall torment all of you! you say austin now, but wait till you read how cute elliot is! and i saw the chapters and choices episode today! oh my gosh - great. **

**Disclaimer: i dont own austin and ally! oh, if only...**

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**4:00 - At Mini's**

Dez checked Mini's first for Trish. _If only she answered her phone, then I could be fishing for my cheese underwear!_ (long story) There the Latina was, casually flipping through her magazine. He hesitated interrupting her; after all, the last time he did that, he woke up locked in a freezer. Dez shrugged and jumped up besides her, shouting, "BOO!"

Trish jumped, seething with fury. Her head turned toward his in a flash of black curls with a death glare flaming in her eyes.

It was hilarious.

Dez sat down across the tiny table ever so nonchalant. "So how's my favorite little munchkin?" he grinned.

Trish leaned forward. "Dez, this better be good, or Benjamin's new head is going to be his last."

Dez's good mood soured into a horrified state of disarray. "You wouldn't!" he tensed.

Trish relished in this. "Oh, yes. Oh yes I would," she said slowly, emphasizing every syllable.

"Okay. Fine," Dez complied, very serious. "Then I'll make this quick: Ally wanted to invite you to the movie in the park. I still don't see why…"

"Who else is coming?" she asked, ignoring the last part (she'd get back at him later for that).

"Weeell, Ally, Elliot…" Dez pondered. Trish smiled at those names. "…Keira, and Austin! And me, of course!" He now oozed with excitement about the upcoming movie. He didn't notice the displeasure that contorted Trish's face as soon as he mentioned the last three people.

"Wait – _all of you_?!" Trish exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Dez said with a 'duh' face. "Who do you think invited everyone?" Dez asked, gesturing to himself. "But you're just for Ally so…I guess not _everyone…_" he muttered.

Trish was ignoring him at this point. _How can I get Ally and Elliot together with Austin there? He's going to do something – I know it. And with the three extra dead weights around…maybe I can distract them? _Suddenly, Trish scoffed. _Of course I can – this is _me_ I'm talkin' about! Wait…three? Six of us? It's almost like…a triple date…? A TRIPLE DATE?! WITH DEZ?! ALLY, I'M COMIN' FOR YOU!_

Dez watched Trish's face transform from emotion to emotion. Yes, he was taping her. This was hilarious. Yup, he struck gold here. It was so funny! And yet, strangely compelling.

Suddenly, Trish noisily scraped back her chair getting up. She angrily stomped away from the table towards Sonic Boom.

_Huh. Oh well. Guess it's time to go fishing._

* * *

**4:35 - Austin's house**

Once he returned home, he had gotten through about two stacks of pancakes. Austin sat back, stuffed. _One more pancake…just one…_

*Oh! And did I mention each stack contained some fifteen or so pancakes? Anyway…*

As his lazy hand slowly reached for the next pancake, his stomach automatically gurgled in protest. It was almost as if it said, "NO! Stop hurting me! PUT THE PANCAKE DOWN, OR SO HELP ME I WILL BRING ALL THIS HALF DIGESTED GLUCK RIGHT. BACK. UP.

Austin moaned and put his hand down. He got up from his crumby desk and collapsed onto his bed. "Uggghhhhh…" he moaned.

His cell phone on his desk rang. _Of course._

It was his special Keira ring. He closed his eyes and waited for the call to pass. He couldn't deal with thinking yet. Not when he was so sleepy…

He slept for ten minutes when a different ring sounded. It was coming from under him. He rolled over a bit so one of his arms could grab the phone (it was his home phone) and looked at the caller:

Ally.

He might as well. It was already in his hands. And it would just take another five minutes to go to sleep. Unless Ally went on nagging and rambling. Then it would take five seconds.

He answered it. "Austin?" Ally sounded worried.

His brows furrowed with anxiety. "Ally? What's wrong?"

She laughed her beautiful laugh. "Austin, I should be asking you that."

"Oh. Is that why you sound so worried?"

"Yes! Of course!" He could see her rolling her eyes.

"Why?"

"Cause you were really upset today, and I wanted to cheer you up," she said. He could hear the slight bitterness that she tried to hide.

"First, what's bothering you Ally?" he asked knowingly.

"Whaaaat?" Her voice was distinctly raised higher.

"Ally," Austin scolded seriously.

"Okay, fine. I was kind of annoyed that you wouldn't tell me what's bothering _you_," Ally admitted. "And us being best friends and all, I thought that we could tell each other everything."

The guilt he felt right then was eating him so vehemently that he almost told her. Almost. He wanted to. He always came to Ally for girls, emotions, etc, but how could he this time? "Ally," he fake smiled the best he could (even though she couldn't see him) and said with the best fake confidence he could muster, "I'm totally fine."

"Really?" She actually sounded convinced! Maybe after writing a few albums, he should act.

"Yeah, Ally. I was just a little upset cause Keira and me got in our first fight," he lied. Austin wanted to spit out the acid he felt after he uttered each word.

"What?! Why didn't you tell me?!" she exclaimed.

"Ally! Calm down. It wasn't a big thing and Elliot was there so I didn't think it would matter." Now his guilt had consumed him. Lying to Ally? She would never suspect it because of her good nature so it was the safest way to go. But still. _Lying_ to _Ally_?!

"Austin!" she scolded. "Just tell me next time, and we can talk privately okay?"

Austin gulped away the guilt. "Yeah, of course Ally," he shook.

"You sure you're okay?" He heard doubt in her voice.

"Yeah! Stop being such a worry-wart Ally!" Austin teased.

He could see her mouth pucker and a secret smile form upon her soft lips. "Okay, okay. Am I being paranoid?"

"Yes. Yes you are," he smiled. Then a thought occurred to him: _but for good reason_. He frowned.

"Fine! Okay, I'll stop being a mother. So meet us at the diner at 6:00? We're planning to have dinner before the movie."

"Sure."

Ally lowered her voice to a very serious tone. "And _remember_, under _no_ circumstances, can Dez have _any_ chicken pot pie, or we will be there _forever_, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay," he laughed.

"Oh, and Austin?"

"Still here," Austin smiled.

"I'm always here. For you. You know that, right?" she pleaded.

"Yeah. Of course I know that, Ally. And you know that I'm always here for you too?" he replied.

"Yeah, yeah I know," she smiled. "So with all mushy-gushy stuff aside, were you eating pancakes?"

Austin laughed. "Maybe!"

"Hey Ally! C'mon!" someone yelled in the background. He could hear Trish's laugh.

"What're you doing?" Austin was curious.

"I'll be right there!" Ally yelled. He could hear her muffled voice. She probably was holding her cell phone to her chest so that his ears didn't have to bleed because she yelled into the mic. "Sorry Austin – I would talk some more, but Elliot, Trish, and I – "

"Say no more." He would have hung up right then, but Ally would have thought that something was amiss again. "Go have fun," he stated flatly.

"Austin?"

"I said go have fun, Ally," he said with more heart. "I'll be there at six. Bye," he said.

"B - !" Ally hung up before her farewell had ended.

Austin threw away the phone and sighed. He was just going to make her laugh by telling her of his pancake coma, but noo. Elliot had to occupy all her time, didn't he? Usually when Austin had pancake comas he'd call Ally, and she'd be there in ten minutes tops. Along with some whipped cream, M&Ms, chocolate syrup, ice cream, and a Disney movie. That always made him feel better. Who knew to cure eating too much was to eat more? Now that he was thinking about it, maybe it was Ally that did the trick. She always made him feel better. Most of the time. Some things were just only cured by Dez or his parents.

_Dez!_ He needed Dez. Dez could help him sort out his thoughts. Dez could even make him forget about all this mess. If only he didn't throw away the phone…

Eh. He had about an hour and then some. Might as well sleep.

* * *

**5:00 – Somewhere in the Mall**

Ally hung up her cell phone.

_Austin lied._

_Austin _lied_._

_No. No, he couldn't have. Austin wouldn't do that. I mean, he has done it before: with my song, my parrot…_

Ally shook her head. _But if I asked him if something were wrong, he would tell me. Because I already asked him before, and he would have to tell me the truth, right? He could never lie to me in this situation._

_Right?_

"Ally?" Ally almost jumped out of her socks. She was so deep in thought that she hadn't realized that Trish walked up right behind her. Elliot was waiting a few yards away.

Ally turned around quickly and looked down at Trish's downturned eyebrows. "Yeah?" she asked.

"Hey." Trish took hold of Ally's shoulders so that Ally would look at her. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm just a bit frazzled," Ally explained.

"Austin?" Trish already knew.

"How are you so good?" Ally smiled at her best friend's intellectual conclusion.

Trish relaxed and let go of Ally's shoulders. "I'm too great for my own good, aren't I?" she joked.

Ally giggled and played along. "Oh, if only I could be just teensy bit like Trish Della Rosa!" she sighed dramatically, placing a hand on her forehead, just like if she were checking her temperature.

"Then you wouldn't be so geeky," Trish giggled.

Ally good-naturedly slapped Trish's arm. "I'm not geeky!"

"Tsk," Trish clucked in pretend pity. "Still in denial, I see." She said that in the most serious face she could.

Meanwhile, Elliot walked up to them. "Hey guys, we still going to the arcade?" Elliot asked.

Trish looked at her watch. "You know what, we don't have much time to get ready."

"Get ready for what? The movie? It's not fancy or anyth – " Ally got cut short by Trish.

"Yes it is! Elliot, come formally casual," Trish turned to Elliot.

He gave Ally a confused look. She shook her head and shrugged right before Trish took her hand and pulled her away.

* * *

**At Ally's House**

"Why do we even have to change?" Ally persisted, putting on what seemed like the hundredth dress that Trish had forced her to wear. "And how come I'm trying all these dresses on anyway?"

Trish sighed. _Oh, Ally. Oh innocent little Ally._ "Because you're going on a date." She wore a mid-thigh length purple skirt with black stockings. She had on shiny black flats with bows. Her shirt was a comfortable v-neck half sleeve that was black. It had a big purple heart in the center. She topped it all off with her crazy curls held down to one side by a large black bow.

Ally popped her head out of the bathroom. "I'm _what_?!" she exclaimed furiously, yet a bit…excited! Her head came back into her bathroom, trying to squeeze through an exceptionally tight collar.

Trish sat back on Ally's bed. There were clothes strewn everywhere. "Yes, Ally. With Elliot. I thought it was pretty obvious. Even for _you_," Trish pointed out. Ally was smart and everything, but with boys? Better she leave that to Trish. She couldn't imagine what Ally would do without her.

Ally stood in shock. _Yeah, I guess I should have guessed that…but we aren't going on a date. We're all just friends,_ Ally thought, coming out of the bathroom.

"Ooo! Cute, but too businessy. You need to let your chest breathe, Ally!" Trish said. Ally blushed.

"This is the billionth dress that you've _forced_ me to try on!" Ally groaned.

"Stop being a baby!" Trish walked over to Ally's closet. "NO…no…DEFINITELY NOT…eh…oh my gosh!" she squealed. Trish pulled out a skin tight red dress with a receding v neck and almost completely open back. It would go up to her mid thigh, and it was a short sleeve. "Where has _this_ been hiding?"

"It's just one of my mom's dresses. Actually, she said that she's almost done in Africa – "

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"Trish! My mom – "

"Would want you to wow Elliot with this dress and stop talking about Africa! Now try this on!" Trish demanded.

Ally didn't approve of the dress. But she got that feeling. That reckless, crazy, exhilarating feeling that makes you want to do things that you wouldn't do otherwise. Ally hesitantly took the dress from Trish's hands and headed for the bathroom.

Trish smiled…and then she was reminded of Dez when she saw the photo collage of all of Ally's friends on Ally's bedroom wall.

"Ally?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you set me up?"

"What?"

"With Dez?!"

Ally laughed, but then she heard the silence from the other side of the door (or rather, she didn't hear it). She peeked her head out the door and saw her friend very serious. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about how six people – an even number – are going to a movie, in the park, at night, and how you wanted _Dez_ to invite me!" she fumed, black curls flying all the while. _We're not going out on a triple date! It's just six friends – well, kinda – watching some movie together. Pssh – _some_ movie?! It's an awesome movie!_

Ally giggled and peeked out again. She saw Trish collapsed on her bed. Ally went back in the bathroom. "Okay, you caught me."

"WHAT?!"

Ally laughed _hard_. "TrishTrishTrish, I'm just kidding!"

"You better be!" Trish yelled.

"Don't worry – I am. I never even thought about you and Dez going out," Ally reasoned. She tried to picture it again, and the same scene of events once again rolled through her mind from the time where Austin and she tried to picture them together, and she shivered. But this time she also saw them marrying each other and moving in with her – now that was scarier than singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl.

* * *

**6:10 - At the Diner**

Elliot was getting uncomfortable. He was the only one who came on time. He was going to leave in ten minutes if no –

_Wow._

Ally rushed in the diner, her eyes scouring for Elliot. _Ah! There he is!_

She wore the red dress with two inch red pumps. She had a plain silver chain necklace on, with a circular diamond the only decoration. She wore dangling silver earrings and a silver bracelet. Her usual medium length wavy hair had been straightened into long strands of chocolate and gold. Then it was simply put into a half up, half down hairstyle. The makeup she wore, along with the hair, made her look edgy. Not to mention the black leather jacket she had on.

She didn't just look hot. She looked sexy.

Elliot stood up, not knowing what else to do. He tried not to balk, but she just looked so beautiful, that no words could come out.

"Hey Elliot! I'm sorry I'm late. I blame Trish. She did all this," here she gestured to herself. "Wow, Elliot. You look great!"

He did. He wore a deep blue fitting shirt, which showed off his muscles. He also wore a leather jacket, which surprised Ally…in a _very_ good way. He had a pair of nice dark jeans, paired with some vans.

"Y-you look absolutely beautiful, Ally," Elliot said sincerely.

"Aw, thanks Elliot!" she glowed. Ally looked for Trish. "Hey, did you see Trish behind me?" she asked.

"Uh, no. I didn't."

"Huh. Come to think of it, where _is_ everyone?" Ally pondered aloud. "Oh my gosh. This is Trish's doing!"

"Why does that not surprise me?" Elliot laughed. _Reminder: thank Trish a million times!_ Elliot and Ally had about only an hour of catching up time alone, so this seemed like the best time to do it. They were about to sit down when –

SLAM. "Sorry I'm late guys! I overslept and…Ally?!" Austin asked.

Ally turned around and smiled. "Hey Austin!"

"Ally, you look…"

"Stunningly gorgeous?" Elliot finished for him. Ally blushed shyly towards Elliot. Austin noticed with a scowl Elliot and how much better he looked. Normally, he dressed like a nerd, but now…he was dressed really nicely. And so was Ally. Were they on a date?!

"Are you guys on a date?!" Austin choked out.

"What? No!" Ally exclaimed.

"Y-yeah. Ally and I are just friends," Elliot stammered.

"Well then what are _just the two of you_ doing here, _eating out_," he said pointedly. "…and looking _absolutely_ gorgeous," he said quietly, looking to Ally. He loved the whole B/A look that she had put on, not that she didn't always look so pretty…

Ally blushed. Elliot saw this and butted into their moment. "We were just waiting for everybody else to get here." Austin noticed Elliot again and turned to him.

Austin scowled, but then an idea occurred to him. "Oh. Well then, let's eat!" Austin said with a mischievous smile.

Austin sat next to Elliot before Ally could. Elliot gave Austin a look. Ally sat across from them in their little booth. A waitress came up to them and they ordered a couple of plain cheese pizzas.

Awkward.

"So…" Austin drawled out.

"Yep," Elliot said.

"Right. So have you guys ever heard of Leaving Teardrops?" Ally asked, trying to start conversation.

They both shook their heads.

"Well, Dez and I have watched it before, and it's awesome!" Ally exclaimed with big hand gestures. She commenced animatedly talking about the movie, not noticing how the two cute guys right in front of her just stared with boyish smiles.

"And then BAM! It stops right there! I was really upset, but since the scene changed to Erica, the feeling was gone in an instant because…"

_She's gorgeous. I should've asked her out at camp. But it never would have worked out. But now…now I'm here, and she's here, and I can _finally_ tell her how I feel…_

"And then Dez and I looked at each other like 'Whaaat?' cause obviously Brianna was…"

_She's so cute. WAIT! No, no she's not…but she IS! In a friend way…yeah, totally. Ally is awesome, and beautiful, and funny…in a friend way. Yeah. She's the most adorkable person I'll ever meet. I just love the way her eyes sparkle…_

"…and the banana totally won the fight with the octopus because of the time paradox on Jupiter, right?" Ally asked sarcastically. That blew both of the boys out of their stupor.

"What?!" they both said, shocked.

Ally laughed. "So do you two want to tell me about the movie?" she asked knowingly, laying back in her seat and crossing her arms.

Luckily they didn't have to. The pizza came, fresh and steaming.

Everyone dug right in. Ally continued talking about the movie, and they both listened this time. Except Austin couldn't stand it anymore – it sounded horrible.

"Then Monica started going all snooty, saying – "

"So how did you guys meet?" Austin interrupted. He regretted it the moment he said it. Why couldn't he have thought of something better? But he didn't think, and that was the first thing that came to mind because they were both there.

Elliot took on a goofy smile that brightened his whole face. He sat up straighter and looked right at Ally, wonderful reminiscence sparkling in his eyes. Ally smiled back while Austin had disgust smeared across his face.

Staring at Ally, Elliot said, "I'll never forget the time when Ally came into the crafting tent with cute purple handprints on her face from a face painting incident."

Ally ate while listening to Elliot. She accidentally placed both her hands on her pizza before putting both of her hands on her cheeks while saying, "I can't believe you remember that!" She took her hands off of her face, and low and behold, there were two tomato-sauced handprints on her face.

Elliot grabbed a napkin and reached over to softly and slowly wipe her cheeks. "Still as cute as ever," he quietly said, smiling shyly.

Ally stared into his deep green eyes and Elliot stared into her big brown ones. He eventually stopped wiping her face as he began to lean closer…

"Here! I'll get that for her!" Austin grabbed the back of Elliot's shirt and sat him right back down and then hastily wiped the rest of the sauce left on a stunned Ally's face.

He sat back down. "You know," he said, patting Elliot's back, "that was a wonderful story."

Elliot felt the wet, chunky tomato sauce being slapped maliciously on his back.

He was shocked.

"Austin!" Ally scolded, surprised. "You ruined Elliot's shirt!" She started to get up from her seat.

"No, no it's okay Ally," Elliot said with hands gesturing her to stop. "I'll clean this up. I doubt you can go to the men's restrooms."

"No, Elliot. You can't reach back there. Why don't you go wait for me at the bathroom while I talk to Austin?" Ally asked.

Elliot nodded, knowing she was right, and did as she asked.

When he was out of earshot, Ally lowered her voice, but was still of the same vehemence if she were yelling. "Austin! What was that?!" she hissed.

Austin winced. "What are you talking about?" he tried weakly.

She gave the look.

"Okay, okay. I don't know…it was just…spur of the moment?" he shrugged in innocence.

"Spur of the moment?!"

"Well…I don't know…" Austin fidgeted in his seat. "What was that with you and Elliot?" He leaned in accusatory.

It was Ally's turn to fidget. She blushed. "I don't know…I guess we had a moment?" she smiled, already reminiscing. Austin was disgusted.

"Really? Elliot?" he asked, angrily ripping at his pizza.

"What?" Ally asked confused.

"Well, Elliot is lame and geeky…and, I mean, he's just not the right guy for you," he said, chomping loudly.

"You haven't even talked to Elliot for five minutes! Why don't you just stop judging him and actually _get to know him_? This isn't like you, Austin. Whatever thing you have against Elliot, it better stop right now!" she huffed. Ally angrily got her beautiful self out of the booth and walked long, quick strides to the bathroom. Austin couldn't help but think of how hot she looked when she was angry…

_Wait a sec! You're supposed to think about what naughty thing you did! And I'm not talking about checking Ally out as her long legs made her walk away while her hair blew from her face…_

_I said, stop it! _Austin's conscience reprimanded.

* * *

**6:45 - In the Boys' Bathroom**

Elliot burst into the bathroom. He went straight to the sinks, watched the water form a puddle in his cupped hands, and then brushed the cold water on his face and through his hair.

_I almost kissed Ally_, he thought with ecstatic joy. But then again, he was a bit disappointed in himself. Ally deserved a better first kiss with him than in some public diner in the mall. He was going to take her someplace after the movie. He was going to plan this. _You got this,_ he thought. That moment felt so right though. The only thing that mattered was those precious seconds right then, but Austin had ruined it. _Yeah, what was wrong?_ Unless…no! He was going out with Keira. But it made so much sense! When he met Austin yesterday, he felt so jealous! And Ally and he were such great friends and partners. And how could anyone resist Ally's adorableness?! His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Elliot?" a timid voice asked. At hearing this, he opened the door to Ally.

"Hey," he smiled. Ally looked into the white bathroom. "Uh, don't worry. Nobody's in here but me," he assured her.

Ally gave him a relieved look. She then walked under Elliot's arm holding the door and into the bathroom. She grabbed a paper towel and put it under the nozzle of the sink, letting the water run over it. She put some soap on it while Elliot came up behind her.

She turned around and jumped when she saw Elliot's smiling face so close to hers. She let out a nervous laugh and by pressing on his _muscular_ shoulder turned him around.

She started wiping the back of his shirt. "Hey, I'm sorry about what happened back there. I don't know what came over Austin." Her brow furrowed. "He usually isn't like this! I don't know what's been happening to him lately, you know? And he's supposed to tell me everything! I'm his best friend and all. And you know what's worst?" Ally scraped at Elliot's shirt with vehemence. "He _lied_ to me about it! Best friends don't lie to each other about something like that!" She was pounding Elliot's back, about to tear up. "I can't get this stupid stain out!" she yelled.

Elliot turned around, deeply worried about her. "Ally." He picked up her face in his hands. A stray tear escaped from her left eye. That broke his heart. Before it could go anywhere, he brushed it away with his thumb. Ally looked at him with a face full of desperation and sadness. "Ally, everything's fine." He came up closer to her so that she could read every emotion in his face. "To be truthful, and I don't like saying this, but I think that Austin likes you," Elliot admitted. How could he keep this from her when she was in such a state of disarray?

She looked down. Ally felt a combination of joy, fear, and…disappointment? As soon as she looked up at Elliot's desperate face, trying to find something in hers, she was conflicted. Elliot was her first crush after all, and she couldn't tear Austin away from sweet Keira!

She was so confused, Elliot couldn't find anything on her face betraying that she liked Austin, and he let go. Instantly she missed the sure feeling of his soft hands on her face. He took a step away. "I know how to get the stain out."

Ally was pulled out of her stupor. "How?" she asked quietly. In response, Elliot pulled off his shirt.

Ally was not ready for what she saw.

He had a cut four pack, and no ounce of fat on him. His pecks and fully uncovered arms were chiseled to perfection. His body looked like Taylor Lautner without the tan. Oh, if he had a tan…

He turned to get another paper towel. She openly stared at the flexing muscles of his back. No words came to her mind. No words.

He ran water over the paper towel and started to work on the stubborn stain. He looked back at Ally. "Hey, uh…could you help me please?" he pleaded with his wonderful green eyes. He knew all about stains from a class from their camp, but he just wanted Ally close beside him.

Ally nodded and obediently picked up her paper towel. She worked beside him. "And this was such a nice shirt too…" she said with remorse.

Elliot stared at her concentrated face and smiled. He cautiously placed his hand on top of hers. She looked back at his face, finding him staring at her. They were a mere inch apart. "I'm kind of glad it got stained," he said with a lowered voice and a sincere face. Ally stared back at him, blushed, and got back to work, trying to pretend she didn't feel his flattering gaze on her grinning head.

* * *

**okay so now i know you all hate me. im sorry!**

**but i want everyone to see all sides of the story, and i know ive been kind of lacking in the keira department, but ill get to it!**

**so austin's gonna take some time so sort out his feelings and ally will be VERY confused. poor girl. im also planning on editing the other chapters cause i jump around with time, and it can be confusing, i know. and i think ima change them going to a diner and instead to a pizza place cause right now ordering pizza at a diner makes no sense whatsoever.**

**by the way, im also going to add credit to the whole "handprints on her face" bit to someone so if you wanna reread the whole story so far, i think itd be worth your while!**

**and also, i think the whole "handprints on her face" and "slapping pizza sauce on his back" bits were actually supposed to be part of the script cause i saw this picture of that scene on a script and that trish was actually supposed to work in a new pizza shop. i guess they took it out cause it got leaked? i dunno but it wouldve been great to see that, and how jealous austin would get! **

**but anyway, thanks for reading and please review! id appreciate it a lot! they always make me smile! and again, any ideas - feel free to type your heart out! thanks for reading!**


	4. Les Miserables

**soooo i thought i should update. here it is. yup, its just been waiting to be posted but i never had any time...bleh. well so i tried to focus a bit more on the other characters and what theyre doin cause i want all this fluff to be happenin and then it just all escalates into one big explosion of wowness. did i just say that? **

**well anyway, i hope you like this chapter! **

* * *

**6:30 - In the Practice Room**

Trish paced back and forth repeatedly across the room, excited and yet anxious at the same time. "Ugh! I just want to know what's going on!" she muttered exasperated.

Dez was just about to retort a comment, when he again remembered the multiple layers of sticky duct tape Trish had plastered onto his sorry mouth.

"Darn it! If only we had used one of your cameras…" Trish mumbled.

Dez wanted to walk. His butt was getting numb. If only he had been paying attention to Trish before she kidnapped him. It was pretty obvious too:

_"Hey Dez," Trish greeted nonchalantly in the practice room. That was weird – she never acknowledged him unless he said something first, or if she had to. Dez shrugged it off._

_"So, what did you need me for?" Dez asked. He stood in the doorway, hesitant. She texted him to meet her there. Since when did she use her phone? Eh. Whatever. _

_"Close the door so I can tell you!" Trish loudly whispered to Dez. He saw the serious look on her face and did as he was told, coming into the room._

_"Now lock it and come closer," she ordered. The poor kid obeyed. He walked up next to where she was sitting. She stood up._

_"Closer!" she whispered urgently. He leaned forward and bent down. Trish made as if to whisper in his ear, but leaned back, revealing a devilish look on her face (the kind she used before doing something mischievous). She grabbed a gleaming bat from behind her and wonked him in the head._

_When he woke up, he was tied to a chair and duct taped. With a side of a whopping headache._

Dez glared at Trish with the remembrance of it. But who could stay mad at those saucy black-curls?

She continued to pace. That's all she ever did since he woke up. She was frustrated and antsy – one word:

_Hilarious._

He tried to smile under the sticky layers that overlapped over his mouth as the short Latina ran a hand through her jet black curls…and it got stuck. And that is how Dez became untied.

"Just untangle my hand out already!" Trish yelled.

"I'm _trying_," Dez said deathly low through clenched teeth. Trish heard the uncharacteristic seriousness in the redhead's voice.

She softened her voice. "Just…it's been _ten minutes_ already!"

Dez laughed, back to his usual self. "And what do you have better to do? Pace around the room like a dead unicorn?" he scoffed.

She shook off the last part and bit back her lip trembling with a nasty retort so as to not upset him again. Only she could really make him mad (like a normal person), and as much as she loved to endlessly annoy him, Dez actually mad made Trish feel a bit uneasy and…guilty? Not possible. ish. "Ugh. I hate those rare moments when you're right."

He put down the broken handle. It was the second brush that Trish's mangled mess of hair broke. How could she hide all of those tangles under a perfect layer of perfect curls? Dez sighed. He was tired. And _very _hungry. He couldn't revel in what Trish just muttered until he had his two servings of dinner and at least three bowls of ice cream in order to make up for the delay. "Triiiiish, I'm huuuuuuungryyyyyy!" he whined.

"Hey! I only let you go so you can get my hand out of my hair! I only untied your hands, remember?" Trish reminded Dez.

"Darn it!" he sighed, frustrated. Trish let out a peep of laughter at Dez's stupidity.

"Uh…Trish?" Dez inquired hesitantly.

"Yeah…"

"My hand got stuck…"

"If you say that it's stuck in my hair I'm gonna – "

"…in your hair." The poor girl face palmed, hopeless.

**6:50 – Keira's Room**

Keira finished putting on her makeup and looked at her purple alarm clock. She had ten minutes.

Setting her blush on her purple dresser, she turned her head back to evaluate herself. She wore a plain, sleeveless black dress up to her knees accompanied with black jewel earrings and a matching necklace. For shoes, she wore shiny, black, three-inch pumps. _Yeah, you look hot._ That done, Keira picked up her soft, black, golden-chained purse to leave.

She wished she could of gone to the upscale yet casual Italian place Ally and Elliot were, but Trish had texted her to let the camp buddies have "some quality time 2gether ;D." Keira knew they were perfect for each other the moment they hugged. She would have to force Ally to spill the dets (details) to her tomorrow. _Maybe on a lunch date, _she noted to herself as she gracefully and skillfully walked down the stairs.

You learn to _never_ trip when you're Jimmy Starr's daughter.

Keira took out her iPhone and made Siri remind her to schedule something with Ally later. She walked out the big glass double-doors to the driver in her dad's Volvo S-90. She took out her phone to play Plants vs. Zombies while the driver drove to the mall.

Keira didn't know why she was going to watch another movie in the park. She hated the grass. And the mosquitoes outside during the night. And the humidity that happened sometimes at night – it ruined her hair! And the wrinkles she would get in this dress…

She blinked. All of her walnuts in the game were eaten through. She put up another wall of them and started to collect more sun.

So why was she going? _To watch a movie I like, to be with Austin, to be with friends, and to make sure Austin didn't send any googly eyes to – _she stopped right there. Keira shook her head. While she was distracted, two zombies had succeeded in eating through all the plants and almost getting to the house.

She needed to concentrate.

Keira replanted all of her peashooters and drifted into the swirling chaos of her thoughts again. _Was I about to say…Ally?_ It made sense. But Austin and Ally didn't like each other…right?

The zombies had once again eaten through her walnut wall. She had to – yet again – plant more walnuts.

A sudden thought occurred to her: _Am I jealous?_ But why would she be? Austin was a nice guy, and they were only dating anyway. It's not like they were going out. And besides, even if she were jealous, it wouldn't be because of Ally, because Ally and she were becoming friends. They had been spending more time with each other…okay, maybe a few exchanges back and forth and a couple lunches together with Trish, but it was, uh, slowly budding. Plus, Ally and Elliot had a little something going on there. Pssh, what was she kidding? Ally practically tackled Elliot when she saw him yesterday.

Keira looked back at her screen only to see that the zombies had indeed succeeded in invading her house and that her precious brains had been eaten (presumably). She hadn't even passed level one. She would have face palmed if not for remembering how much time it took to put on that makeup.

"We're here, Keira," her driver, Leroy announced. The only reason he didn't call her a 'miss' was because of the utter annoyance that Keira had displayed at the word ever since she was tiny.

"Thanks, Mr. Leroy," Keira said. She didn't have to, and that was one of the many things Leroy loved about her. It was his job after all, and 'Mr.'?! The kid was brought up well, and not like a spoiled brat like the kids of his last seven other employers before Mr. Starr.

"No problem, kiddo," Leroy said affectionately, looking into the rearview mirror. "Keira, are you okay?" he asked, brow furrowed.

She flashed a dazzling smile. "I'm fine, you worrywart! Pick me up at ten, same place?" And before he could respond, she scooted out of the car and walked away, waving goodbye.

Leroy smiled and waved back until she turned away. His eyebrows resumed to furrow as he pulled away, back to the Starr's house.

That smile was fake.

**7:00 – Sonic Boom**

It took five long minutes to take out Dez's hand. It was actually for the better, because when he finally got his hand free, he stumbled upon some girl-detangler-gooey-hair stuff that Trish had forgotten about. With that, they were able to take out the remaining limbs of the dead brushes and almost all of her hand.

Dez started laughing. Trish looked confused and tried to turn her head. "Ow!" she cried. Trish, reminded of her dilemma, returned her head back to starting position. Now annoyed, she said sourly, "What is it Dez? Are you working?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was just thinking about how long it's been taking to get your hand out. I mean, the previews should be starting by now." Dez was surprised he didn't really mind not being at the park at seven. Eh. They were just previews.

"Oh," was all Trish could muster. Being late to the movie also added to the guilt. But would she say sorry? "Hey, hurry it up there, then!" No, no she would not.

"I'm almost done…" he murmured quietly. He lifted her hair up from her neck and Trish shivered. The cool air combined with Dez's silent breathing had blown onto her fragile, and rarely ever exposed, neck.

She tensed.

"Hey, relax," he soothed, concentrated. "I'm almost done…" he repeated. His warm (and surprisingly soft) fingers lightly touched the newly forming goosebumps on Trish's neck for just a few seconds before finding her stubby fingers. He let down her hair to get a huge glob of gel from the container. Dez lifted it up again and massaged the gel into her head and her hand.

It was slightly loosening…

Trish reveled in the free massage. It was so weird how guys were so good at this. It felt so good…until Dez came a little too close and breathed on the back of her ear. She stubbornly suppressed the giggle.

Her hand was becoming free…

Dez could see the hair getting looser. He wondered why he didn't get bored of this. _It's probably the way Trish reacted to everything_ he deduced. She was so funny when she was mad.

Her hand was free now, but she let Dez massage it some more until he thought that his work was done. He was a great masseuse.

It wasn't until a few more minutes of relaxation and concentration that Dez had stopped.

Instantly, Trish missed his massaging. He stood up. "Perfecto!" he yelled, throwing an Italian kiss through his hand. Trish got up lazily, still dazed from the (almost) sleep-inducing massage.

Dez gave Trish a smile and saw with surprise that her hair just went back to its original form. "The monster still lives!" he gasped dramatically.

Trish rolled her eyes but played along. "Yeah…it has a mind of its own," she said. It was true though. She needed three ponytails to put it into one, and don't even get _started_ on braiding.

He looked at her expectantly. _Oh, no – if he thinks I'm going to say it, then he better think again._

_Comeoncomeoncomeon…_ Dez chanted.

Her eyes flashed with fire. His stayed with that puppy dog eye look, even though she was glaring at him. Then she remembered her guilt, and that he was hungry…

_Oh, fine._

"Thanks," she mumbled, but with whole heart. She stalked out the door.

He followed with a skip in his step.

**7:00 – The Italian Restaurant**

Ally came out of the bathroom blushing like crazy. Elliot stared after her with a pair of adoring eyes. Almost his whole back was damp, but it was so worth it. After getting most of the stain out, they dried the shirt under the hand drier, but they saw the time and immediately rushed out of the bathroom. Hey, he still had his hot leather jacket to cover it up.

Meanwhile, Austin was slouched in his seat, crossing his arms and enveloped in a thick fog of dark imaginings. His mind wasn't sure whether to reprimand Austin of his bad deed, wonder why he did it, or trying to picture what was taking Ally and Elliot so long. And that always lead to him imagining him giving Elliot a beating while Dez held him down and Ally cheered for him. So his mind raced back and forth between all of these subjects.

The only thing that brought him out of his stupor was the scent of Ally. Yes, he could smell her. He could recognize that sweet scent anywhere.

"Ally?" Austin turned around. He saw Ally's cute red face. Why was she blushing? Then Elliot came up behind her and Ally blushed harder (if possible). She felt as though if she leaned into him, she could feel his cut abs. And Austin felt as though he could punch those green eyes out of Elliot's very sockets right then. "You…uh, get the stain out?"

Ally stopped thinking about Elliot's abs. "Um, yeah, most of it. Since it's seven, I think that we should head back to the store. Dez will be freaking out by now."

"It's only 7:01, Ally," Elliot said, checking his watch.

"You don't know Dez," Austin said with wide eyes, momentarily forgetting what he was thinking because at the moment, he was thinking about Dez and romance movies. If you split one from the other, there was hell to pay…and a sobbing Dez.

"Okay then. Why don't you get your stuff while I go pay for the food?" Elliot offered.

"Oh! Elliot! You don't have to – I brought money. We can split it between all three of us," Ally replied, already reaching for her purse.

"No Ally, it's fine. _I_ will pay for dinner," Austin said.

"No, I'll pay," Elliot walked up to Austin's seat.

"I have money too – "

"Dude. Seriously. I'll pay for it!" Austin stood up.

"Wait, I have – "

"Don't fret – _I'll pay_," Elliot said.

"But – "

"_I'll pay," _Austin came near to Elliot in a menacing stance.

"Guys – "

"_No, I'll pay_," Elliot did the same in return.

"Guys – " Ally tried again.

"_I'll - !"_

"_Guys! _You're causing a scene!"Austin and Elliot looked around, and, indeed, people were staring at them. Elliot was shocked once again by his actions. Austin, on the other hand, was still angry. Before he could do anything though, Ally started talking again. "We'll all split it up, okay?" she asked.

Her big brown eyes begged both of them and made them relent. They both nodded in reluctant agreement, glaring at each other.

"Okay then," Ally sighed, saying that more to herself than to the two tall teenage boys before her.

**7:05 – Sonic Boom**

Keira waited at the counter, looking at the clock confused as Trish and Dez came bounding down the stairs. "Hey guys," she greeted. "Did I come early or something? I thought the movie starts at seven."

Trish, coming over to Keira, said, "Yeah. It looks like we're all running late."

"Oh. But you and Dez are here," she said, again confused.

"She got her hand stuck in her hair!" Dez laughed. Trish shot him a sharp look.

Keira smiled. "I see," she said, trying to suppress a giggle.

"Wait – where's Austin?" Trish asked.

"I don't know. I figured he was here with Dez already. He hasn't answered any of my texts either," she added. At that, Trish took out her phone and started to frantically look through her sent messages.

"Maybe he's sleeping?" Dez suggested. Austin was always sleeping, eating, fooling around, or doing something related to music.

"Trish? You okay?" Keira looked concerned. Trish didn't answer.

"Or maybe he's playing video games in my basement?" Dez pondered quietly.

"NO! NONONO!" Trish yelled into her phone. Keira, who was unfortunately close to Trish, stumbled away covering her ears.

"What is it?!" Keira exclaimed in pain.

"UGH! I FORGOT TO TEXT AUSTIN! OF ALL THE PEOPLE TOO!" the frustrated Trish shouted.

"Or maybe he could be at the park already…"

"NO DEZ!" Trish yelled at him. "Ugh! He's been at the Italian place the whole time," she muttered. The disappointed Latina put her hand on her face in disgust. How could a plan of _hers_ go so wrong? She could understand Ally's, or Austin's, but_ hers_?!

"So? Austin would get the point and leave," Keira reasoned.

Trish just shook her head. _No, no he wouldn't. It's Ally. And he likes her. But I can't say that to Keira! _She looked up at Keira's (yet again) confused face. "Well, him and Elliot don't get along," she said bitterly.

"Oh," said Keira.

Dez looked at Trish. He saw that half-truth. Trish looked back at him, as if to say, _I know. Keira's a sweet girl and she deserves the truth, but I can't tell her the truth!_

Dez did a quick, short nod. _Draaaaaamaaaaaaaa!_

Keira didn't notice any of this because that was when three miserable people walked in.

"Oh, hey guys," Keira said. Trish and Dez turned around, surprised.

"Hey," Ally half-heartedly smiled. She went straight to Keira and hugged her. "Help me!" she whispered frantically in her ear. Ally tore away from the hug and her eyes darted quickly to the boys behind her, and then shot Keira a frantic look. She looked so confused as Ally escaped to Trish, but Keira went by the girl code and helped out her friend.

"Hi, I'm Keira. We never got a chance to meet each other yesterday," she greeted the tall brunette boy.

"Oh, hey I'm Elliot," he replied a bit distracted. "I'm sorry, excuse me," he apologized and started walking towards Ally. Austin was fuming the whole time and was about to follow Elliot when Keira grabbed his arm.

He stopped in his tracks and quirked up an eyebrow, as if asking a question. "We need to talk," she said quietly. Without looking back to see the confusion splayed across his face, she pulled his arm to the couches in the corner.

Meanwhile, Ally was starting to get mad. Yes, it was possible. At first everything was annoying, but now, now it was just frustrating! The trek to Sonic Boom was torture, full of glares and bickering. Why couldn't her two friends get along? _WHY?!_

Elliot walked up to them and Keira led Austin away. Ally watched the pretty girl lead away her friend to the little alcove in the front of the store. Trish elbowed her. "Ow!" she whimpered. Trish glared back.

Before Ally could question her, Elliot grabbed Ally's hand, grabbing her attention along with it. "Hey…can we talk?" he asked softly, his green eyes searching her big brown ones.

"Sure!" a familiar redhead boomed. "What do you want to talk about?" Dez maneuvered so that his cheek was touching Ally's. "Why are we all so close like this?" he whispered quite loudly.

Elliot gave Trish a pleading look and right away she grabbed Dez by the ear and led him towards the back of the store. Ally was still staring at Elliot's bright, sparkling green eyes….

"Ally, I apologize," Elliot started.

This pulled Ally out of her daze. "What? Why?" she asked.

"I've been such a jerk, and I'm sorry. You know, at the restaurant?" he implored.

"Oh," was all she said. Her anger was coming back now. She crossed her arms and waited for the rest of the apology.

"Yeah - I apologize for being such a jerk to Austin, and to you. I didn't mean to – I don't know what came over me!" At this point, he scooped up both of her hands. He was really nervous, and his hands were a bit sweaty, but Ally didn't mind. "I promise I'll do better next time. I will try to become friends with him, however hard it might be. I promise, Ally. Do you forgive me?" he asked in earnest.

Did she forgive him? Did she forgive him?! "Of course, Elliot! It's not that big of a deal," she smiled. How could she _not_ forgive him?! "And thank you. For the apology and for the effort. I really want all of my friends to get along," she shined.

Elliot nodded and released his hands from hers, partly because his were a swamp, and because she said…friends. It was good and all – it meant she saw Austin as a friend, but what about him? Ally's grin disappeared as the contact between them ceased. It took all of him to courageously pick up her fragile hands, and she just friend-zoned him. He thought they had a moment back there – throughout the whole evening really – and she only thought of him as…

"So…we should get to the movie?" Ally inquired.

"Yeah, I guess," Elliot mumbled. This time, Ally took his hand, squeezed it, let go, and walked off to get Dez and Trish. Elliot was filled with elation once again. He stretched his hand, smiled, and jogged after the beautiful girl ahead of him.

Meanwhile, Keira stood with her arms crossed. Austin was still confused. She bit her lip to keep from smiling from his perplexed expression.

"Keira, what is it?" Austin asked.

"You've been misbehaving, haven't you?" she scolded.

Austin's face turned from confused to I'm-guilty-let-me-hide-in-a-corner. "I wouldn't call it _misbehaving_ –"

"So you have!" Keira waited for an explanation, but got impatient. "Why can't you get along with Elliot? He seems like such a nice guy!"

"No he's not! At the restaurant, he was going to sit next to Ally! And he talked a lot! And he wanted to pay for the food!" he argued.

At the mention of sitting next to Ally, Keira tried to suppress her jealousy. She couldn't keep on playing the jealous girlfriend, no matter what happened to her stomach when Austin mentioned Ally. It was a pain in her gut, but that didn't mean anything. Besides, she was getting sidetracked thinking about this.

"It just sounds like he's being polite," she pointed out, back to the situation at hand.

Austin was about to counter back, and then stopped. "You're right. All he did was sit down. And talk. And try to pay. Which I should have accepted…"

"Austin!" Keira snapped him out of it.

"Yeah? Oh, right," he said sheepishly. Usually Keira would have giggled from his distracted behavior, but she was upset now, not at all from thinking about Ally… (wink, wink)

"So why don't you like Elliot?" she pressed.

"I…"

"Well?"

"I don't…

"Austin!"

"I – I don't know!" he exploded, frustrated.

"That doesn't make sense!" she huffed. "Just tell me!" Fearing the answer, she said through gritted teeth, "Never mind. Call me when you start getting your act together." She stomped away, past the awkward, uncomfortable crowd that watched almost the whole thing.

Ally was rubbing her arm, looking down, embarrassed. Trish was eating popcorn and fending off Dez's attempts to take some. Elliot was looking everywhere but at the scene before him, hands knotted behind his back. As Keira stormed out of the store, Ally and Trish ran after her. Austin's hands were entangled in his ruffled blond hair.

Without the popcorn distracting him, Dez looked at his perplexed friend, shaking his head. _Draaaaaaamaaaaaaaaaaaa!_

* * *

__**hehehe! so write reviews please! im sorry about the horrible updates - once a month right now is all the time i have - sorry! spring breaks comin up soon so maybe another update this month? i really dont know. **

**aw i kinda feel bad for my characters cause their day isnt even over yet and look what happened already! i should just give em a break. poor them. but will i? course not! haha maybe i will...**

**but thanks for reading so far! i still have to edit the whole thing - bleh. but thanks again for reading! :)**


	5. Double O Dez

**so this may be my last post for this month if i cant fit any more time in for writing this week. its spring break though, so i may get another chance to post. thanks for reading this long by the way!**

* * *

"So…no movie?" Dez broke the minute-long awkward silence. Elliot scratched the back of his neck. Austin looked back at Dez through the rough hands on his face.

"Dez! Now is not the time," Austin sighed.

"Okay, okay – just joking around," Dez said, half truthfully. Austin heard the half lie, turned his back on the two guys in front of him, and started pacing around the store going clockwise.

"Ugh! This all such a mess!" he yelled, his hands still muffling his mouth.

"Well…I know we're not the best of friends and all, but…this wouldn't have happened if you just told…" he paused. "What's her name…" Elliot mumbled. "…Keira? Yeah, if you just told Keira what's bothering you," Elliot offered.

Dez, with folded arms in a thinking pose nodded in agreement.

Elliot received a glare from Austin. He stopped pacing at the doors of the store, back to starting point. Making huge gestures with his toned arms, Austin faced Elliot head on. "Yeah, I could have just told her – IF I KNEW WHY!" he yelled.

Dez, still in his thinking pose, turned away from Elliot, seemingly disgusted with Elliot's suggestion.

"No. No, I think you know why you have been so rude, and mean, and _jealous _the whole evening! It's _obvious_ and you are just afraid to admit it!" Elliot countered back with vehemence.

Dez put down his arms and silently clapped for the smart guy.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Austin yelled back…again. "Maybe it's just you!" Here Austin pointed to the innocent-looking boy before him.

Dez shook his head in pity.

"Me?! What did _I _do?! I've been completely sane the whole evening compared to you, Mr. Ruins-Nice-Shirts-Guy!" Elliot countered.

_He and Ally would be great together,_ Dez deduced in disappoint from what Elliot just said.

"ARGHH! SEE?! _This_ is what you do! You make me so – "

"Jealous." Elliot said this sure, yet quietly.

"What?" Austin's posture changed from rigid and tense to weary and slouched. His expression was one of confusion.

Elliot sighed. "Because you like – "

"Guys! What's going on here?!" Ally exclaimed, barging in.

Both guys looked at her in shock. Her hair was perfectly wind blown and she looked downright worried.

"IheardlotsofyellingsoIcameas fastasIcouldwithoutbeingrude toKeirabecauseshe'sverydistraughtandatthesamet imeIcouldn'tstandhearingmybestfriendsfi ghtandKeirawasgettingkindofw orriedtoosoIwentcauseTrishwa sn'tinthemoodandofcourseKeiraco uldn't – "

"Ally." Elliot smiled at her cutefulness. His smile instantly brought a sheepish one onto her own face.

"I – I was rambling wasn't I?" she asked shyly.

"Yes. Yes you were," Elliot grinned. He tried not to laugh.

Then Ally's smile turned upside down. "Hey! Stop smiling!" she exclaimed. Her finger poked into the middle of his hard chest. "You guys were fighting! You promised," she said quietly, a bit disappointed.

"It wasn't like that - I was just helping Austin out," Elliot replied, his eyes pleading.

"It's true." Austin pushed the words out through gritted teeth. "He was just giving me advice." You see, Austin, however much he disliked Elliot, knew how it felt when Ally was mad at him. And Elliot really was helping him. Dez wouldn't have said anything, Austin knew, because at the moment he was entangled in the spare string for the violas. Austin couldn't let Elliot take the heat.

"Then why were you guys yelling?" Ally fired back with blazing eyes.

"It's just…how we communicate," Austin shrugged. He then realized that every conversation he ever had with Elliot took a wrong turn. And he hadn't even known the guy for a full day yet!

Ally, still with suspicions, walked slowly backwards towards the front door. The poor girl wanted to look threatening and scary in her head, but instead she looked like a clutz – as usual. When she backed up, she faltered tripping on her high heels while doing the _I've got my eyes on you two_ look. Then meaning to push the door back stealthily, she forgot that the doors were pull, not push. Ally ended up taking another three long, embarrassing seconds feeling the three boys' eyes burn through her back as she tried to figure out how to open the door. Once she did, she walked quickly with all the dignity she could muster back to Keira.

After that, both Austin and Elliot tried not to laugh in respect for Ally, but ended up cracking up as Dez couldn't restrain himself to laugh and fell to the floor in a tangle, still wrapped up in musical string.

**8:30 – Ally's Room**

"But Daryll! I can't _live_ without you!" cried Emmeline to her lover going off to war. Ally, Trish, and Keira all carried their own personal tissue box as each girl plucked a fresh one to be swamped with the oncoming flow of tears. They were all watching from Ally's bed since the TV was a few feet from the foot of it.

"It's just – " Keira blew her nose. " – so sad!"

"Yeah," Trish sniffled, trying not to cry.

"I know! I can't stand it!" Ally wailed, clutching her teddy bear.

"Sshhh! He's about to give her one last hug!" a deep voice shushed.

Oh yeah. And Dez was there too.

He sat right in front of the TV, already on his third tissue box. The girls invited him over because Dez loved romance movies, could give great girl advice, and just wasn't Austin or Elliot. He decided to leave Austin to his devices because Austin had to find out what had been bugging himself by himself and frankly, because this was one of Dez's favorite movies.

"And I thought that I would never see him again…" Emmeline narrated.

Ally, as much as it hurt her, pressed pause. "Okay guys: intermission! I know you've all been holding in your bodily fluids and I gotta restock the chocolate and tissues!" she announced. "Dez has been using them all," she added, grumbling. Everyone got up, grateful for the recess.

"Hey! It takes many tissues for a movie this heart wrenching and a nose this big!" Dez exclaimed, hearing Ally mumble, and dramatically stomped out of the room.

Trish rolled her eyes, Ally gave a bewildered look, and Keira giggled.

"Be careful Ally – Dez gets really emotional during these movies!" Keira grinned.

"Oy. How could I forget?" she laughed, putting some wrappers on her blue bed in the trash. "So are you sleeping over?"

"Could I?" Keira asked hesitantly.

"Sure. I would just text your dad; let him know you're here," Ally suggested.

"Okay." Keira reached for her phone. "Aren't you gonna ask if Trish is staying over?"

"Well, judging that she's already using her toothbrush in the bathroom and she practically lives here, I'd say yes," Ally replied. "She even has a closet all to herself in the hallway," she added.

"Oh, wow. You two must be pretty close," Keira said.

"It's scary! It's like one day she'll take over my life!" Ally whispered. Keira giggled.

"I heard that Ally! We all know it's going to happen! It's just a matter of time!" Trish yelled from Ally's bathroom. Ally put up her hands as if to say to Keira _I told you so_.

Keira laughed again. "Ally, thanks for inviting me over," she said seriously.

"Oh yeah – no problem. I think that we all needed a little break from all the drama."

Keira frowned, remembering her little tantrum. "Yup. I sure made a huge mess of things between me and Austin, didn't I?"

"Weeell, I wouldn't say a _huge_ mess," Trish teased, walking out of the bathroom, minty fresh.

"Ignore her," Ally said. Trish gave a mock-hurt face. "It was just your second fight. No biggie. Austin told me about your fight, so I know it's a bit tense for you two right now…" Ally said. She knew he was telling a lie, but one could never be too sure if one lies over the phone.

"What? Me and Austin haven't had a fight until tonight! He told you that?" Keira asked.

"Yeah. I _knew_ he was lying! I just had to be sure…but now that I am I can truly be disappointed," Ally harrumphed. She sat down on her bed.

"You never told me that!" Trish accused.

"I'm sorry Trish. I forgot. I got caught up in the drama and the dresses and the 'triple date' – "

"Triple date? But then that means – "

"Nonono. It just worked out that me and Dez were the last two people. And that I'm a girl and Dez is a boy. At least I think so…" Trish joked. A slight creak came from the hallway that nobody noticed.

"Okay then," Keira smiled teasingly. Before Trish could utter a defiant response against the implied meaning behind the smile, Keira turned her attention back to Ally. "So why would Austin lie about something like that?"

Ally, returning back to Austin, frowned. "Well, we were talking about why he was upset earlier today. Dez invited everyone to go to the movie we were supposed to see today and weirdly enough, Austin said yes. And he and Elliot officially met. I knew something was up so Austin and I talked privately but all that stemmed from that was him scolding me for using the practice room to teach Elliot some music. I called him later and he said that you two had your first fight. When I hung up I knew he lied and I got all sad because he and I are _best friends_ and best friends don't lie to each other!" Ally finished with her story. Another creak resounded that the girls didn't notice.

Meanwhile, Keira tried her hardest not to be jealous. Trish tried her hardest not to step on Ally's toes. She could see at least three times in that story where it was blatantly obvious Austin was jealous of Elliot. But of course, Ally had no idea. Weird thing was, Ally was an excellent person to come for advice for romantic situations, but when it came to her, she had no idea. And it annoyed Trish to the last nerve.

Especially when it was blatantly obvious that Austin was jealous over Ally, and Ally was ranting all of this in front of the girl that Austin was dating.

Keira, not knowing Ally for a long time saw everything that Trish saw (and Ally didn't). _I know Ally's really nice and all, but is she _trying _to make me mad? She can't be this oblivious._

Keira grabbed the borrowed pajamas from Ally's bed. "I'm just going to put these on. I don't want my dress to get more wrinkled than it already is."

"Uhh…okay. Yeah – we can talk about today later. I'm pretty tired from it too," Ally replied. At least she assumed that was why Keira didn't want to talk.

As soon as Keira closed the bathroom door, Trish pushed Ally so that she was lying down on her bed. Ally got up in a sitting position and confronted Trish. "Hey! What was that for?!"

"For being so innocent!" Trish whispered.

"What?" Ally was confused.

"Ally, be quieter!" Trish hushed. "Ugh – I don't know whether to pinch your cheeks or wring your neck!"

At this, Ally's hand unconsciously rubbed her neck. "Um…why?" she asked hesitantly.

"Cause you're so innocent, yet so ignorant!"

Ally rolled her eyes. "Wow. Thanks Trish." _Creeeak! _This time Ally heard it, but before she could check what made the noise, Trish started talking.

"No, I'm serious. No more talking about Austin, you got it? I don't think that it's the best thing since you're too oblivious."

"But why can't I – "

"I said be _quiet_!" Trish urgently whispered. Ally's eyebrow quirked in curiosity, but then Keira came out of the bathroom. Ally kept her mouth shut.

"Thanks for the sleeping clothes Ally," Keira said, eyeing Ally wearily. She was becoming suspicious of her. Was Ally really the shy bookworm she put out to be? Or was she trying to steal Austin away from her? Did she invite Keira over to make her feel better, or to find her flaws?

"Sure thing, Keira," Ally said awkwardly. "I hope those fit."

"Yeah, they do."

"I don't want them to be too big or too small – not like you're fat or anything!" Ally rambled. Trish face palmed. _Now I've made Ally paranoid!_ she groaned in her head. "I mean you're really skinny and I know sometimes I like to get tight pajammies and if you're uncomfortable in them it won't be because you're fat." Ally face palmed. "I mean because you're really skinny! You're not fat!" To emphasize her point she picked up Keira's arm gently and wiggled it in the air. "See? Just like a twig! I mean, not like a twig because you're not anorexic, you're just – " Ally stopped herself. "You know what? I'm just going to…uh, wash my hands!" And with that, the bumbling ranter tripped out of the room and into the bathroom.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that." Trish shook her head solemnly.

Right then, Dez entered the room. "Hey guys – what'd I miss?" he said, surprisingly nonchalant compared to his usually eccentric entrances. Trish eyed him suspiciously, but before she could say something, Ally came out of the bathroom and shushed everyone back to their seats for the rest of the movie.

**Wednesday 3:00 – Sonic Boom**

"So the parabola would open up because _a_ is greater than zero," Elliot explained to Ally at the cash register.

"Oh my gosh! It all makes sense again! Thank you Elliot!" Ally squealed. She hugged him over the counter.

Elliot squeezed her back. "Sure thing, Alls."

Ally let go of the hug. "That was my nickname you used to call me at camp! You still remember!"

"How could I?" Elliot replied. Ally blushed and turned away. She came back with a lollipop. "Wait a second…" Elliot examined the wrapper. "Blue raspberry bubblegum – my favorite! You still remember things from camp too," he smiled.

"What can I say? I'm good," Ally boasted, flicking her hair to the side. Elliot laughed.

"Aaaalllllllyyyyyyy!" a tiny boy with glasses sing-songed, entering the store. "I'm ready for my marionette lessons!" he said cheerfully, brandishing puppets on his hands.

Ally and Elliot walked up to him. "No, Nelson. _Clarinet_ lessons," Ally laughed.

"Aw, narts! I did it again!" Nelson cast his head down.

"No, it's okay Nelson. I think it's very cute!" Ally smiled. She kissed him on the cheek.

Nelson looked up with shock written all over his face. "Oh, wow!" Then he lowered his voice. "Hey, do ya think if I did that to Megan, she would kiss me too?"

Ally leaned down and whispered, "I don't think so, but you could try it."

"Yippee!" he exploded. Nelson then finally noticed Elliot. "Hey! You're not here to steal my lesson time with Ally, are you?" he accused.

"Nonono little man. I was actually just having some lesson time with Ally myself, but by the looks of it, it seems as though Ally's done with me," Elliot replied.

"Oh! I'm so sorry Elliot! I forgot about Nelson's lesson! Can we tutor some more later? Say around sevenish?"

"Ally – no need to be sorry," Elliot grinned. "And yeah, seven sounds fine. Here or your house?"

"Here. I only get off at eight thirty. When I get off we can do something fun to make up for it?"

Elliot smiled. "Sure thing. I'll see you later, okay?" And with that, Elliot picked up his backpack. "Oh, and Nelson? I think that you should try getting this Megan girl a present." Then he gave Nelson five bucks, winked, and left.

"Yup, I like that guy! You have my permission to date him," Nelson announced.

"Whaaat?" Ally's voice raised three pitches. "There's nothing going on between Elliot and me," Ally replied.

"Shame." Nelson walked away towards the piano and left Ally to run after him before he made a mess of anything.

**4:00 – Austin's house.**

"I'm tired of this! We've been talking about your emotional issues for like, two hours!" Dez whined.

"But I can't help it! It's all I can think about!" Austin exclaimed.

"This reminds me of when Daryll is stuck in the jungle about to die and all he can think about is Emmeline, his one true love!" Dez held his hands over his heart.

"Dude. You gotta stop that," Austin said. He was laying on his bed, surrounded by homework and pencils. Dez was sitting at Austin's desk, a pencil behind his ear.

"Okay, okay. It's just, I was watching that movie with the girls last night and it was - "

"What?! You hung out with them last night and you didn't tell me?!" Austin exclaimed. Dez gave him a look.

"Well, we were just watching a movie. As I was saying – "

"But you were with Ally and Keira, right?" Austin asked eagerly. Dez was now glaring at the interrupter.

"Yeah. And Tri – "

"So did they say anything about me?!" Austin was sitting up in his bed now. Dez was getting antsy.

"Funny you should ask tha – "

"Just tell me Dez!"

"JUST STOP INTERRUPTING ME AUSTIN!" Dez exploded. "Ahh, now where was I? Oh, I wasn't anywhere because I NEVER STARTED BECAUSE SOMEONE'S A NOSY BANANA!"

"Sorry Dez. I just want to know," Austin replied.

Dez lowered his voice and looked around with paranoia even though there were only two of them in the room. "Well, they didn't really tell _me_ anything, but I was eavesdropping on them."

Austin leaned closer to Dez from his bed to hear better. "Yeah, I know it was bad, but I couldn't help it. I was coming up the stairs from the downstairs bathroom so the girls could use Ally's bathroom. But then they were saying some juicy stuff and I would've blown it if I just walked in there. So I waited in the hallway."

"Dez! You're like a spy!"

"I know! I've already thought of a name for myself – Double O Dez! What do ya think?"

"Greatgreat now what did they say?"Austin asked.

"They were talking about _you_. About how you've been acting so weird lately. Ally knows that you lied by the way. She already knew, but just confirmed it with Keira. Why'd you lie dude?" Dez asked, disappointed.

"I just – I don't know! I'm confused!" Austin exclaimed, wimpy.

"That seems to be the answer to a lot of stuff nowadays."

"Ouch," Austin said, a bit hurt by Dez's burn. "But you're right. I guess I just need some time?"

"Time would be best," Dez agreed. He got up with his backpack.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Austin desperately asked, already feeling lonely.

"Well, you need time, and I need to do my homework. And let's face it – we can't do homework together." Austin had to agree with that. And with that, Dez left Austin to his jumbled thoughts.

**Rest of the Week**

Ally and Elliot started to hang out more and more over the course of the week. Most of it was Trish's doing, shooing away Austin or pulling Dez by the ear. Poor Austin still didn't know what was wrong with himself, but he knew for sure it had to do with Elliot. But whenever Austin tried to talk to Ally about it, there that annoying kid was. He was stealing Ally away! He never got to hang out with her anymore, and besides, they hadn't written down one word for a new song and it was already a week since Elliot had been there. Did catching up really take that long? Dez was awesome, Trish was hilarious, but he wanted Ally back. Like the good old times.

Elliot on the other hand was having an awesome time. He had made some friends at his new school, he was going to try out for soccer, and Ally was always smiling brightly beside him. Yeah, he knew it was because of Trish, and he (of course) thanked her. Everything was coming together.

But not for Dez. Sure, he liked Elliot. But with Ally? Okay, so maybe they liked a bunch of the same things, or never ran out of things to talk about, or were absolutely perfect for each other – but did that really constitute a good relationship? …nah. Now, Austin and Ally: he could see something there. If only it weren't for that pesky Trish…

She excelled at this. Maybe she should get a job as a matchmaker? Her work was almost complete! It was just that Ally and Elliot were _so_ shy when it came to this kind of thing that it almost drove Trish to lash out at them in Spanish, push Ally into Elliot, lock the door and be done with it! Hmm. It wasn't such a bad idea.

Though, Ally would definitely disagree. She liked Elliot. A lot. But Trish made everything so obvious! She appreciated the help, but Ally wanted everything to go slow and natural. One cannot speed up love. And maybe she was also thinking about Austin. She hadn't been seeing him lately, or Dez either and she missed them. Especially Austin. Ally still remembered what Elliot said to her in the bathroom, about Austin liking her, and she thought about it. Ally would be really busy hanging out, doing schoolwork, attending clubs, or working at the store. Then in bed, she would be downright drowsy, when Elliot's words poignantly yelled at her, like a dissonant cord among Beethoven. She would think about it until she had realized it had been an hour, and then try to go to sleep. But she couldn't despite her lethargy. Eventually she did, but those words were eating away at her precious sleep and with a schedule like hers, she couldn't stand it (okay so maybe it wasn't _just_ the schedule, but she wasn't going to admit _that_). She had to do something to make those words go away…but how?

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**ooooooo! okay so pleeeeeeeaaase write a review! like what you want to happen, something you want me to write in here, like carnival scene or something (hey that sounds cool), or just what you think of the story right now. **

**but character analysis: whos your favorite? hmmm...id say Nelson cause hes a cutie! but whos feeling bad for Keira? and Austins annoying the heck out of me...yeah im gonna make that better for you guys by my next post. its just getting frustrating writing about his internal conflicts. well ive rambled enough. okay - please review!**


	6. Austin and Ally

**hey there...**

**ok. im sorry its technically monday so im posting this a day late, but at least i posted it! ..and its short. but at least i posted it!**

**OK OK IM SOOOORRY! i know how it feels to wait..and wait...and wait...and waaait for an update so im sorry!**

**k. its probably not a big deal. i just tend to exaggerate like the gecko for geico! I HAVE A FLAT TIRE! *looks to the sky distraught, on his tiny wittle knees***

**hehe but yeah. yesh. yaazam! hehe.**

**eh ok that was horrendous. you can just read the story now, unless you just chose to ignore this whole thing right here (dont worry i dont judge...and i kinda dont blame you. i mean, come on im ME.)**

**...**

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**;)**

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**BUNNIES!**

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**Monday The Practice Room – 2:30**

Dez had just gone to the spa with Trish because Austin was either on a date with Keira or doing something else, and Dez was very lonely. He threw open the door, and upon seeing a blonde head, said, "Guess who got his eyebrows plucked, armpits waxed, and feet scraped?"

Austin looked up in horror. "That sounds painful!"

"It was!" Dez said loudly, his face contorting into one of disgust. "And it's _all_ your fault!" Dez pointed at the innocent-looking boy…holding a bird's nest?

Austin was confused, but instead of asking Dez what he meant, he shrugged. "Sorry, but you do smell really good."

"Thanks. It's cucumber melon," he said, distracted from the point. Then he looked down as Austin continued working on…whatever it was he was working on. "Why are you making a bird's nest?" Dez asked, gesturing to the pile of twigs in Austin's lap.

Austin looked up. "It's a basket!" he said, as if to say 'duh.' He got up. "Elliot's not the only guy who can do arts and crafts," Austin stated, quite proud of his work. He showed it to Dez.

Dez looked down and his face came up solemn. "Apparently he is."

Austin gave him an offended look and walked away to the fridge, leaving Dez with the 'basket.'

"And," Dez sighed. "I know why you're doing this." This caught Austin's attention. He turned around to face Dez, water bottle in hand. "You're bummed about Ally and Elliot," the redhead stated simply.

Austin closed the fridge. "A guy can't just basket weave for the fun of it?" Austin asked, sitting down on the piano bench.

"No. No he can't." Dez dropped the basket. "Austin, don't you see what's going on here?" Waiting for no answer, he said, "You like Ally." Dez smiled, knowing it would happen sometime.

"What?! That's crazy!" Austin retorted. _What?! Me and Ally?! Come on! I mean, me and Ally, as in, her being _my_ Ally…hmm…my Ally…_

"Is it? You don't like _anything_ about Ally?"

"Well, yeah, I like a lot of stuff about Ally!" Dez sat down on the striped seat beside him. He crossed him legs and put up his folded hands in front of his face, giving himself a sophisticated pose. Austin started listing, "I like writing songs with her…"

"Uh-huh," Dez replied, almost like a psychologist.

"I like that I can talk to her about anything…"

"Go on." Dez leaned forward.

"And I like her smile," Austin said with a dreamy grin. "And the way she laughs." He stopped, just picturing Ally's cute, melodic giggles. Dez saw his smile grow wider. "Oh!" Austin turned to the piano. "And I really like it when we're playing the piano, and my hand accidentally touches hers." He sat there, just remembering the butterfly-inducing times when they happened. Austin turned back to Dez. "I get this awesome feeling that no one, not even Keira makes me – " He stopped himself because he realized how he was going to end that last sentence. Austin looked at Dez in shock and Dez gave him a knowing look in return.

"Oh man! I – I – I like Ally!" Austin exclaimed quietly, getting up.

"Oh it's more than that, buddy." Dez got up too. "I think you're in love with her," he said, making butterflies with his hands and letting them fly.

"Wow," Austin said, looking down. "I like Ally."

Dez smiled, patting himself on the back in his mind. Austin smiled back, elation flowing through him.

**Tuesday School - 2:15**

It was his last chance. Now or never. Trish was in the bathroom, Ally was calmly copying down homework, and there was no teacher or classmate to stop Austin from talking to her.

They had barely gotten one conversation in the whole of last week, and on the weekend, Elliot, Trish, and Ally went on a two day craft workshop. Trish only tagged along because Ally would have felt a bit weird if it were only her and Elliot (they just started reconnecting after all). And yesterday, the teacher, Mr. Cuviere, had class last until the bell, stopping any chances to have a real conversation with Ally. To make up for slashing social time the previous day, Mr. Cuviere let the class have a ten minute social time at the end of class that day. Which worked out perfectly.

Austin forced his way through bulky desks, pesky students, and scattered papers to the placid Ally. She put away her agenda book in her schoolbag and began to pack up. But before she could grab her notebook, Austin sat on it…and all of the things on her desk.

"Hey stranger," Austin greeted her with a wide smile.

She couldn't help but smile at her silly friend. "Hey. Where have you been?" Ally asked, giving him her full attention.

"That's what I came to talk to you about!" He looked around, paranoid that someone would pull Ally away from him at any second.

"Austin?" Ally questioned with a slight cock of her head. She tried looking where he was, but couldn't tell what was captivating his attention.

"Okay, quick, before Trish or someone comes, I have to ask you something," he said quietly amidst the chaos of the classroom. They both leaned in close.

"Uh, sure Austin…" she said a bit worried.

"Do you wanna hang out, just you and me?" he asked urgently.

Ally laughed, and it sounded like music to him – he missed her so much more than he had anticipated. "My gosh! I thought you were just going to tell me that we have to diffuse a bomb or something!" she giggled.

Austin smiled, but became serious. "This is important, okay? I've missed you," he said, taking her hands. She looked up into his wounded-puppy expression. Ally immediately felt guilty for how she had been ignoring him.

"Austin, I've missed you too! I'm sorry – I guess I really haven't been balancing my friends well." Ally got up and hugged him. Still in an embrace, she said, "You know what? Let's go out for ice cream Friday after school, just me and you. I'll ask my dad to take my shift at the store, and reschedule with Trish, okay?" Here she broke off from the long hug and looked into his eyes, her hands on his sturdy shoulders.

"Yeah. Yeah that would be great," Austin smiled.

"Good," Ally replied.

**Wednesday Sonic Boom - 8:00 pm**

"AllyAllyAlly!" a brunette boy yelled, crashing through the doors. A concentrated Ally was at the counter doing logistics when she was suddenly pulled out of the world of numbers, startled by his outburst. She turned around with a slight smile at the familiar voice. He ran around to the inside of the counter and picked her up in a hug.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed, a huge smile splayed across her face. He put her down. "What is it?" she asked, looking into his bright green eyes.

"I made the soccer team!" Elliot exclaimed. Ally squealed and hugged him around his neck. He picked her up again and swung her in a circle while she hung onto his neck for dear life.

Elliot put her down again, and she unlocked herself from him. "I_ knew _you could do it!"

"I couldn't have done it without you," Elliot grinned. Ally had pestered him to try out for soccer, knowing that he was a great soccer player and that he still practiced. Elliot, being shy, had to be nagged time and time again by Ally until he finally gave in.

Ally returned the smile. They were both so happy, and their heads were so close, and soon they weren't smiling anymore, but staring into each other's eyes. Elliot then looked down at her lips, and she his. It grew serious, and they started to…

"GUESS WHAT GUYS!" Dez yelled. The shy couple, interrupted, turned toward the ecstatic red head blushing like mad. "I fit seventy eight grapes in my mouth before choking on one! NEW BEST!" They both looked at him blankly, but that wasn't what Dez saw. He saw blushed cheeks and close proximity between the two. "Uhh, was I interrupting something?"

Both kids looked at each other in shocked faces. "Whaaat?!" Ally's voice reached an all time best – five pitches. "Noooooooo," Elliot said at the same time.

"Hey, is it getting hot in her?" Elliot asked, pulling his collar.

"Yeahit'sabitstuffysoIshouldjustgoopenawindow,"All y rambled, going upstairs (nowhere near a window).

"Yeah and I should go…" Elliot faded into a mumble. "…water some…uh…cactus!" And with that, Elliot exited the store. This all happened quite quickly, and then after everything was over, or so Dez thought, Trish appeared out of nowhere.

She slapped him, gave him a look, and went after Ally.

Dez, dumbfounded, slept-walked over to Austin's house to tell him about his grape stuffing victory, forgetting to mention the bewildering incident.

**Thursday Sonic Boom – 3:00 pm**

so we still on 4 saturday?

still not sure…lots of hw

Austin closed his phone. He felt bad for avoiding Keira for much of last week, and pretty much all of that week so far, but he didn't feel better with her either. They were only dating anyway, and she was a pretty girl – if she were bored, she could get another date to occupy her time. It wasn't like they were going out.

Before Austin entered the store, he looked at his reflection in the shop window and spiffed up his hair, not really knowing why. He found out that Elliot had joined the soccer team in school that day, which meant that Elliot was going to be at practice till about four or five. And _that_ meant more Austin and Ally time without…_him_.

He entered the store and spotted Ally giving change and a bag to a middle-aged woman. She looked beautiful, with a pink floral top and red stud earrings. "Have a great day!" she brightly said and then waved goodbye to the woman. "Oh! Austin!" Ally greeted.

"Hey," Austin said, walking up to the counter. Looking around, he stated, rather robotically, "I see no Elliot today."

Seemingly not noticing, Ally replied, a bit dejected, "Yeah. He joined the soccer team and has practice till five every day. And Trish isn't here because she has detention." Seeing the curious look on Austin's face, she answered, "She fell asleep _again_ in Mrs. Penzetti's class again, even though she was in the front row. To make it worse, when Mrs. Penzetti woke her up, Trish yelled at her in Spanish."

"It's not that bad. Mrs. Penzetti is kinda strict – "

"And spent five years in Spain. Trish was cursing off at her in Spanish."

"Oh. Bad Trish!" Austin tried, seeing the serious look on Ally's face. He was trying to hold back laughter.

"Austin!" Ally hit him with the tambourine beside her. Austin burst out laughing, coaxing a smile from Ally's lips. She couldn't help it – she started laughing too. Hearing his musical laugh relaxed her.

"Excuse me? I'd like some help," an irritable man said, eyeing the blonde-ripped-jeans-rocker with obvious disapproval.

"Oh, I'm sorry to keep you waiting. Of course, sir. What would you need help with?" Ally asked, trying to suppress a grin. While she helped the man, Austin took an acoustic guitar and sat down at the counter, facing the entrance. He strummed some melodies of his songs carelessly, yet attracting some giggling girls every few minutes passing by.

Ally came back and smiled at the familiar mash of notes. Then she remembered. "Austin! I'm so sorry!" she urgently apologized. Austin stopped playing and looked at her quizzically. "We haven't been in the practice room forever! Our new song hasn't even been _started_!"

Austin gave a sad smile. "It's alright Ally. Elliot's been here, and you've had to catch up with him."

"But I haven't been – hey! We barely got _one_ conversation since Elliot's been here!" Ally gasped. "And I haven't been focusing on a new song, and if you think about it, the four of us haven't hung out since Elliot's been here either!"

Ally was distraught. Austin looked at her in concern and jumped off the counter so that they were right next to each other. "It's fine Ally," he said soothingly. Thinking about it, he said, "If you feel that bad about it, we can change Austin and Ally time tomorrow to the four of us." He gave a half-hearted smile.

Ally looked up at him, her big puppy dog eyes tugging at his heart. "Really?"

"Really."

She was about to comply when she saw him biting his lip, his eyes downcast, and his smile a fake. "No."

"No?" Austin's face lifted a bit, with a sprinkle of confusion.

"It was meant to be Austin and Ally time, and it still is. We can work Dez and Trish in some other time," Ally said, determined. "We are going to have the best time tomorrow!"

"Definitely," Austin said, a huge smile on his face.

**Friday The Park – 4:45**

And they did. They left school together and walked to the park, which wasn't far. It was a bit cloudy, but the sun was out, and birds were chirping. Austin brought his guitar, so the whole time he played notes while they talked. They never stopped talking, couldn't stop talking. Ally laughed for half of the walk over there. Oh, how he loved her laugh. And she didn't realize how much she had missed him.

Once they got there, they found an ice cream vendor. Ally got two scoops of fudge brownie, and Austin got one scoop of chocolate, one of vanilla, and one of fudge brownie. They walked over to a bench to put down their backpacks and to rest while eating their ice cream.

"…cause they have horns like them!" Austin said, intense.

"But that doesn't constitute that they are unicorns! More like…distant relatives?" Ally offered hesitantly.

"Uh-uh. Rhinos are hippo unicorns and you know it. I win so I get a lick of your ice cream!" Austin pointed out quite excitedly.

Ally sighed, but let Austin take a lick. He leaned over and precariously took one lick of her ice cream while she sternly supervised. He looked up at her with puppy dog eyes while licking the cold dessert and it made her laugh. Then a mischievous glint shone in his eyes and before Ally could question him, he dug his face into her cone of creaminess. "Hey! One lick!" Ally protested in horror.

"But I love fudge brownie!" Austin mumbled in objection. His mouth was full of Ally's ice cream.

"You have your own!" Ally retorted, trying not to laugh. Suddenly an idea crossed her mind. Ally took Austin's ice cream out of his unsuspecting hands and starting eating his. She then pulled away her ice cream, but Austin's head was still attached. He followed her cone until he fell into her lap. "Get off!" she laughed. Austin turned over, laughing too. He was now laying on the bench, his feet crossed hanging off the edge.

Ally looked down at his handsome face. "You're lucky you didn't get any of that ice cream on your face on my outfit." And with that, she picked up a napkin from her backpack and commenced wiping his face gently.

He stared at her with soft brown eyes the whole time. The sunlight hit the waves in her hair at just the right angle, making her look heavenly. Ally's skin glowed with the rays that the sun gave out. Her big eyes sparkled, and her soft, pink lips curved up into a contagious smile.

Ally asked, "What is it?" with a slight tilt of her head.

"What do you mean?" Austin replied quietly, still in a daze. He reached up to play with a strand of her amazingly soft hair.

"I _mean_, why are you staring at me?" Ally squirmed with…was that a grin?

That snapped him out of it. He blushed. "Oh. I was?" Austin, still embarrassed, didn't notice the soft smile and the sparkle of hope forming in Ally's eyes. She tried to suppress it, but there was just something about that Austin – the way his hair always looked so right, the playful glint in his eyes, and when he always knew what to say to make her feel better…

"Yeah," Ally nervously laughed, but more so because of what she was thinking rather than the current situation. Austin felt like he should get up, but he didn't want to. He wanted to be locked in that moment forever. How could he not see this before? Or had he always seen it? Always known how so darn beautiful Ally was? Did he always try to deny it, keep it locked away in the back of his mind since the beginning? Ally looked away, feeling shy all of a sudden (again, her mind was starting to run rampant with how perfect she thought Austin was).

"Ally…?" he asked, not knowing what to say, except what was on his mind. She looked at him expectantly, and almost, desperately. "Ally…" he tried again. A beat passed. "Ally, I…"

But then the clouds covered the sun, a big breeze blew up, and the moment was over.

"Austin?" Ally tried to coax whatever he was going to say before the moment was entirely gone, but a huge raindrop landed on her head, and she looked up, temporarily forgetting what she was trying to do. Before she knew it, Austin had gotten up and gathered up his things, his face bright red. She couldn't see it because his back was to her, but Austin felt so embarrassed, he thought his face reflected that of a tomato. He handed her backpack to her, and she threw it on. The rain grew heavier with every step as they commenced walking.

They started running, but after a bit, Ally stopped. "Where are we even going?" she panted. Austin backtracked and saw how tired she was. Ally was crouched in the rain, her hands on her knees. _I can't piggyback her with my backpack, unless…_

Austin adjusted his backpack to his front, then put down his guitar. He came over to Ally, crouched down, and somehow put her on his back. "Ahh! Austin!" she yelled in protest, surprised by the sudden manhandling. He smiled. Austin then picked up his guitar and jogged towards the forest of the park.

He led them to a place where there was a slight rock overhanging and a congestion of big, leafy trees so that the place was almost dry. Austin put the soaking Ally down. She wobbled, then giving up, sat down on a tree stump. "Where are we?" she asked, completely bewildered.

"Um…I dunno. But guessing from the rain, I think we should stay put." Ally nodded in agreement. Right then, thunder boomed. The rain, which had started out as a nice trickle, now sounded like a million tiny bullets.

"I am so glad I wore sneakers and pants today," Ally said, relieved.

"I'm a bit disappointed. I wanna see you running with high heels. I mean, seeing as how you're already a huge clutz…" Austin mumbled this with a cross of his left arm, and his right elbow resting on it as he flipped back his hand.

"No I'm not!" Ally childishly objected.

Austin gave Ally a knowing look.

"Okay, maybe I am. But it wouldn't be funny like how you're implying!"

He gave her another look.

"Okay, maybe it would."

The look.

"Fine, fine – it would definitely be hilarious, but I never admitted that!" Ally said pointedly to Austin. He laughed at her mock-angry adorable little self.

"So how long do you think we'll be here?" Ally asked, wanting desperately to change the subject. Austin, Dez, and Trish could make fun of her for _hours_ if encouraged.

"It could be anything from a few hours…" He turned dramatically. "…to a few weeks!"

Ally looked up in shock and then, seeing the look on his face, rolled her eyes.

"Personally, I wouldn't mind trekking the long walk back to the school, but my guitar's already damaged," Austin said, sitting down on a log beside Ally. Ally looked at the waterlogged pile of their schoolbags and the guitar. She took it and examined it.

"It's fixable, right?" Austin asked hopefully.

It took Ally a moment longer to reply. "I think it should be okay as long as it doesn't get bombarded by anymore rain."

"So we wait here?"

"So we wait here."

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**hmm...what happens next? sorry about the shortness, but ill make it longer next time! i will!**

**...maaaybe**

**BUT anyway please review you wonderfuls and thanks for reading! by the way, im open to any suggestions bout the story!**


	7. Stranded

**I am so sorry! I apologize for neglecting to post anything for a while.**

**forgive me!**

**...so i am sorry! but ive just been so busy, cause ive been studying so much cause i want all As (maybe one B) this marking period, ive got track, ive been makin my life funner - NO its a word (yeah! party! haha just kiddin), and ive been volunteering for LINCS hours, if youve ever heard of them? so life has just been...life. i say that with a slouch and a sigh, butwith accomplishment. and plus, i love bein busy!**

**so again, I apologize. i just know how frustrating it can be when i wait...and wait...and waaait for another chapter to come up. i know my French teacher would throw a hissy fit and a strongly worded email to me if that ever happened, including the words: VAKE UP, AMERICA! (shes from France). haha gotta love her.**

**weeell i doubt i can do the every week sorta updates, but ill try! every two weeks? month? eh. **

**BUT on happier terms, heres another chapter! hehe. **

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**The Practice Room – 4:45**

"Trish, I'm bored," Dez pouted as he closed the door to the practice room.

"Well, I'm busy. Go ask Austin to play with you or something," Trish murmured, eyes still transfixed to her laptop.

"But Austin's hanging out with Ally, and it's really nice out. I mean, just look outside!" Dez made his way to Trish. She sneaked a peek at him. His nice hair was great looking, as always, and his desperate eyes looked towards the window. She followed his gaze, and was met with dazzling sunshine, and right on cue (of course) a bright blue bird flew past. Trish looked back at the dim, synthetic light seeping from her laptop.

Darn those birds.

"Fine," she grudgingly grumbled.

**Keira's House 4:45**

Finished with her meager amount of homework, Keira went downstairs to the kitchen to make some dinner. There was usually someone who made it for her and her dad, but with Mr. Starr not coming home till two (in the morning), and Keira already leaving for a party soon, she gave all the workers a day off this morning after breakfast . She cooked up some noodles and tofu (vegan), and then set up dinner in front of the TV. She settled on watching some What I Like About You reruns, and dejectedly ate.

Everyone was always out on Fridays so Keira was desperately bored. Who ever heard of Keira Starr inside on a Friday? But since Austin changed plans last week, she couldn't make new ones. Yeah, it was last week, but if you're a Starr, then all of your friends would've had made plans two weeks in advance. Oh well. There was a birthday party later that night anyway, but still: she was supposed to be booked today.

"I lost my vincelet!" Holly cried. Keira giggled. This show was funny.

But still, she was a bit mad at Austin. How come he kept on avoiding her? She was the girl – she shouldn't have to try this hard. _He_ should be the one begging on his knees in a long line of guys, wanting to have a date with _her_. Okay, maybe that was a bit over the top, but it drove the point home.

"Why are you being all mean? I'm sad!" Holly accused Val in a childlike voice.

Keira smiled. Amanda Bynes, who played Holly, was hilarious. She wondered why the show was canceled. She also wondered why Austin didn't seem to like her. Every boy who took her out always ended up liking her a lot, not to be snotty, but to be honest. She just didn't get it…unless Austin liked someone else.

Val sighed. "Holly – you've got to cry. Okay? You've got to let it out. It's the only way to make you feel any better, okay? Now cry! Come on, cry! Cry me a river baby! Cry!"

Keira couldn't help but laugh at that. Val was one of her favorite characters. Anyway, who would Austin like? Well, it was obvious, but Keira still didn't want to see it. _Wait…_ Was that who Austin was with?! Was that why Austin had canceled on her?!

Holly stopped crying to say, "Don't I look like crap?!"

"Yes!" Val replied. "Yes you look like hell," Val said, hugging Holly. Keira turned off the TV. If he canceled to be with Ally, Austin would not be hearing the last of her. And Ally, innocent or not (Keira still couldn't tell), would too.

**The Park – 5:00**

"Dez! Did you even look at the forecast for today before dragging me all the way out to the park just to get _drenched_?!" Trish shrieked. Thunder roared.

"I told you, for the millionth time, I'm sorry!" Dez cried.

"Sorry isn't good enough! You _owe_ me!"

"Fine! Just be quiet!" Trish stomped her foot, but obliged. "Okay," Dez sighed. He turned around to face Trish. "There's a dense forest up there. I've been there before during rain like this as a kid and I barely ever got wet."

"Don't trees attract lightning, estupido?"

"Yeah well, this is special."

"Special?! This isn't Bridge to Terabithia!"

Dez turned around abruptly. Trish looked up in surprise. He was…sad. Genuinely sad. And that scared her. This wasn't like Dez.

"Please, Trish. Just stop with the comments. Not now. Please Trish. Just - please," he pleaded.

She nodded and they went on their way.

**The Forest - 5:10**

"So why are we in a forest during a lightning storm?" Ally asked. She was still on her tree stump, freezing. Austin was leaning up against a tree facing her. His arms were crossed, and he didn't look the least bit cold.

"Well, this forest doesn't really get hit by lightning. Like ever," Austin replied, far away.

"Austin?" Ally brought him back to life.

"Huh?" Austin's eyes sparked again. "Yeah?"

"You were saying?"

"Oh, yeah. This forest is…it's special. It's different." Ally cocked her head to the side. Austin seemed uncomfortable. For the first time since they got there, he seemed to notice Ally. She was soaked to the bone and freezing, but there were raindrops in her hair, and her rounded lips were bright red. She looked beautiful. And she looked so cute with her head tilted to the side, and her lips quivering into a smile…or because they were cold? "Hey! You look freezing!"

Ally waved it off, but it was true. Her lips weren't blue, and her teeth weren't chattering, but she was still really cold. Her fingernails were purple and she couldn't stop shivering. Austin looked for his blue jacket in his backpack. He found it in the bottom (fortunately, or else if it were near the top it would have gotten soaked) and tucked it around Ally.

"Thanks," she said gratefully. It did help greatly. She smiled at his worried expression as he took the hood of the sweater and pulled it over her head. He was kneeling in front of her. He tried tugging the sweater around her face as best as possible. "Austin." She touched his hand with hers. "I'm fine!"

But that only made him worry more. Her hands were so chilly! "Ally, you're freezing!" he exclaimed. It was true. Even with the sweater, she was still getting colder. Her lips were turning blue. He touched her cheek with his hand. It was really cold too, but it had a hint of warmth…

Ally blushed. "Austin, it's not like I'm going to die. I'm just not used to roughing it outside. I stayed inside in the library for recess," she added, just to prove her point.

"But you seem _really_ cold," Austin pointed out. Absentmindedly, he started circling his thumb over her soft skin. It was so smooth…

"I'm fine," Ally smiled. He looked up into those big brown eyes and this time, she was wearing his blue sweater on top of her head. Her hair was still wavy, but wet with sparkling drops of sky that brought out her sparkling chocolate eyes.

"Ally…" Austin tried again.

"Austin…" Ally played along. He smiled.

Then Austin grabbed his guitar and sat next to her on the log. Putting the guitar strap around their necks, he also put his arm around her. She immediately felt warmer. "Better?"

"Better," Ally replied. _Much, much better_ she sighed in her head. And not just better as in warmer, but _better_ as in _warmer_, if that made any sense.

Austin sighed in contentment. _This_, this is where he wanted to be. With Ally. It just felt…right.

"I thought that guitar's still damp," Ally pointed out.

"Oh, right. But I thought that it's been long enough for it to dry."

"You're just being impatient," Ally teased.

"You never know," he smiled back. Austin strummed the guitar, and it sounded fine. "See?"

"Pfft. Luck."

"Think what you want!" Austin retorted softly. Ally laughed at this.

"You know what? We can start writing our new song now," Ally suggested.

"Yeah! Got any ideas?" Austin asked, excited. Ally got her skinny arms around the guitar and strummed, trying to shake some of the numbness out of her fingers.

"Okay, so I did get some thinking in during the week about the song. I was wondering if you'd be okay if it weren't a dance song?"

"This isn't one of those sappy chick songs, is it?" Austin looked down at her.

"No, maybe more like a…a happy friendship song?" Ally looked up at him.

Her cute, quizzical face was enough to sway Austin. "Let's try it."

She gave him a big smile and with his arms around her, started excitedly humming and strumming tunes along the guitar.

**School – 5:00**

Huh. Ally wasn't answering. "Hey, you need a ride Elliot?" Mark asked. Elliot looked up and saw the nice blonde that he had made friends with last week in biology. Conveniently, he played soccer too.

"You sure?" Elliot hesitantly asked. He was sitting down in front of the entrance of the school, on the steps. There was an overhang of stone above his head, so no rain could bombard him. Practice had ended early because of the rain. Good too, because the rain that was coming down right now was coming down hard.

"Sure dude!" Mark laughed at Elliot's politeness. He patted his back gruffly and sat down on the steps beside him. "So, uh, I just saw it, I wasn't spying or anything, but were you calling that Ally girl?" Mark asked.

"Yeah. Why?" Mark now had Elliot's full attention.

"Just wondering. She's pretty hot." Elliot playfully punched him, but maybe just a little harder than 'playfully.'

Mark laughed. "She's not going out with Moon?"

"No," Elliot replied tersely.

"Well he's going out with someone…" Mark faded off.

"Uh, Keira Starr?"

"Never heard of her."

"I think she's the daughter of Jimmy Starr," Elliot offered.

"Whoa! Really? That's awesome! Austin's the man! I've seen that girl and _man_…" Mark whistled.

"Um, does Austin usually date many of those kinds of people?"

"Well, he dates lots of the hot girls in our school. Your Ally though? She hasn't dated much."

"Who has she dated?" Thunder suddenly sounded.

"Well, I think this Dallas kid…and someone else…and maybe someone on the team…"

"Really? Who?" Elliot asked eagerly. At the same time, he knew he shouldn't be figuring out this information from Mark, of all people, but he just couldn't help it.

Mark pulled at his collar. "Uh…" His phone rang and he answered it. He hung up quickly. "My mom's here." The two guys couldn't see anything through the rain, but the car was there nonetheless.

"Oh," Elliot said, a bit disappointed. "Okay." The soccer players both grabbed up their backpacks and equipment and dauntlessly trekked through the rain to the car.

**The Forest – 5:10**

"How does the rain keep out so well in here?" Trish asked.

"It just does I guess," Dez replied, distant…and holding back.

Trish didn't notice as she was irritable. "Well, where are we going? We're already here!" she snapped.

"Just this one place I want to see again." Dez looked back. "Unless you're tired. We can stop here," he said, sizing up her disheveled self.

Reading his mind, she complained, "I must look horrible!"

"Eh. I would say terrible, but definitely not horrible," Dez said truthfully.

_And he's back!_ Trish thought dryly. "You don't look too nice yourself," she retorted. They both looked like they needed a nice spiff-up. Trish's hair was soaked so that it clung to her, which actually was pretty, but Dez wouldn't admit that. But her clothes hung off of her and her face was dog-tired. Dez's perfect-all-the-time hair was not perfect, but drenched and even redder than before. He still looked sad, but not tired like Trish.

Finding an old log, he said, "Why don't you sit down here?" Seeing the look she gave him, he added, "It's not like you really have a choice."

"I could stand," Trish retorted.

"But you don't want to, do you?"

She sighed. "I just wanna curl up on my comfy bed and go to sleep!"

"Well this rough, old, hard log will have to do." Trish rolled her eyes. "Fine then. But I'm sitting."

**The Forest – 5:40**

"So instead of A flat to B flat, let's just go with A flat to B," Ally suggested.

"Sure," Austin agreed. "So it looks like we've got a lot of the music mapped out. Let's work on the lyrics."

"Okay. I already have some great ideas! They may be a little sappy for you though," Ally warned him with a sheepish smile.

"Aaaalllyyyyyyy," he groaned.

"Just give it a chance, okay?" she pleaded, nudging him with her elbow.

Austin was actually quite curious about what the lyrics she was thinking were. And maybe, subconsciously, he wanted them to be about him. "Fine," he grinned, trying to hide it with a face-palm.

Ally smiled and turned towards the guitar. They were both still in the same position, with the guitar strap around their necks and Austin's arm around her. Needless to say, there were too many butterflies contained within Ally's stomach and Austin was afraid that Ally would hear his heart thumping so loudly.

"Okay, well this is what I got so far: When you're on your own, drowning alone…uh…"

"And you need a rope?"

"Yeah! When you're on your own, drowning alone, and you need a rope that can pull you uup," she sang. Austin loved her voice, but besides practice time, he barely got to hear it. She continued, "Someone will throw iit." She looked back at him expectantly.

"That was great! You just came up with that?"

"Maybe I kind of guided our music making to the tune of it…and maybe I had this in my head for a long time," Ally admitted.

"Really?" Austin asked, not just about the song.

"Yeah! I know I've got the chorus down, but everything else I'll need help with. And I wasn't really sure of the tune until now, so I'm going to have to fit the chorus into that…" Ally turned back to the guitar and continued singing. "If you wanna cry, I'll be your shoulder. If you wanna laugh I'll be your smile. If you wanna fly I'll be your sky. Anything you need, that's what I'll be. You can come to me..."

"And Ally Dawson does it again," Austin smiled.

"You like it?"

"Ally, let's be serious," he replied. Ally laughed. They made a few adjustments to the chorus so the lyrics fit with the music and the music fit with the lyrics. The couple worked on the other parts of the song for some time until a certain clumsy brunette just couldn't pinpoint how to play something.

"No, not minor D to F, F to minor D, and then back to the chorus," Austin corrected.

"Ugh! I keep on doing it wrong. I usually have a music sheet in front of me," Ally pouted. She began to try again.

"You know what? I'll show you," Austin offered. Ally took her fingers off the guitar, but Austin gently grabbed her hands and put them back. Before she could ask what he was doing, he put his warm hands on top of her tiny ones and began playing so that they were playing together. In order to do this, Austin had to crouch down, so that his face was right next to hers. "And that's how," he said quietly in her ear.

"Oh," she said shakily.

They both sat there, awkward and comfortable at the same time.

**The Forest – 6:10**

Trish had fallen asleep on Dez's lap. Yeah, I know. I thought that it was impossible too, but it's what happened:

First, after five minutes of standing, Trish reluctantly sat down beside Dez. They were both really cold, but not as much as Ally. And unlike Austin, they had come unprepared, with only their cell phones which (Trish checked) had no service. For some reason, Dez didn't bother, but she blamed that on his stupidity.

Eventually, her lethargy got to her, and as she almost fell back asleep to the ground, Dez caught her at the last moment and kept her balanced on the log. He didn't want to face her wrath if she found herself on the dirty forest ground. But Dez got tired of holding her back, so he laid her head in his lap. While reminiscing, he absentmindedly played with her now poofy black curls. Dez listened to the pattering raindrops and the roaring thunder. He was calm, yet still melancholy. This forest brought back memories he didn't want to uncover again.

Trish woke up because while Dez was playing with her hair, he accidentally brushed her chilled neck. She woke up with a gasp. Trish got up and looked around, confused. _Since when did I fall asleep in a _forest_?!_

Trish never realized that she had been lying down in Dez's lap, and he never bothered to tell her. Although, her waking up did startle him out of his daze. "You fell asleep," Dez stated quietly.

"Yeah, I kinda guessed that," Trish snapped back. _Now for the post-nap crankiness_ Dez remembered.

"It's about 6:10," Dez said, reading his waterproof watch.

"Great. Dinner time," Trish grumbled. On cue, the thunder and her stomach roared.

"At least the rain is letting up. And then we can grab something at the mall," Dez suggested.

"Walk all the way back there?! No way – I'm gonna get Ally or someone to pick me up!" Trish exclaimed. "My parents will probably be really worried…"

"They'll probably think that you're at Ally's house or something. I mean, you do have a closet there," Dez pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess they wouldn't even bother calling or anyth – wait." Trish looked Dez straight in the eye. "How do you know that?"

"Well I just assumed since you and Ally – "

"No. That I have a closet in Ally's house." Dez gave away a guilty look.

"Weeell, maaaybe I just overheard something during movie night…"

"You were eavesdropping on us!" Trish accused.

"To be fair, you guys talk _really_ loud, and I couldn't help overhearing – "

"How much did you hear?" Trish demanded.

Dez sighed. "Really?" Trish nodded. "I heard just about everything."

Trish turned away and groaned. She started pacing. "You are _never_ coming to another movie night!"

"But Ally's my sappy movie buddy!" Dez pouted.

"Ugh!" Trish continued pacing while a beat passed.

"You know, just as a reminder, but you remember the last time you started pacing like that?" Dez said quietly. To make his point clear, he ran his hand through his hair.

Trish stopped, looked at him, and sat back down on the log, sitting next to Dez and facing the opposite of him so that he knew she was mad at him.

As the rain slowed down, they could hear strumming and laughing. Exchanging looks, they simultaneously got up and searched for the sweet music.

**The Forest – 6:30**

Ally was the first to break the silence. She turned toward him, and with a gasp found her lips only a mere few whispers away. The gentle boy looked back at her, taking in the citrus scent the beautiful girl was giving off. They both tenderly gazed at each other's sweet lips in hesitant longing, until, as if through some unspoken agreement, stepped over their constricting friend-zone boundaries and started to lean in.

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**mwahahahahahaa! you just haaate me right now, dont you? ;)! hmm, wasnt i just asking for your forgiveness...**

**oh well. i definitely just crossed the line here anyway. i do feel a bit guilty though...meh. so do you guys still love Elliot? leanin towards Austin? should they just forget Ally and find a Canadian girl? ...well that came out of nowhere. yeah, theres the matter of the guys, but dont you think its time Ally should lock herself away for a few days and finally MAKE UP HER MIND?! and are Austin and Ally subconsciously pushing Dez and Trish together? think about it - theyre always the other ones left alone, behind the scenes...no? just me? haha youd think i know, being the one writing the story. how ironic.**

**well tell me what you think, anything i should change, any scenes you wanna see in the future...? PLEASE REVIEW!**

**again, I am sorry about the whole posting thing, but hopefully ill be able to post something else soon! Thanks for reading!**


	8. Trish and Dez just ruin everything sigh

**hey guys!**

**sooo i wanted to post something...mainly because i have this great part that i really wanna share - especially cause Dez does somethin that even ****_i_**** didnt expect, and thats pretty weird considering im writing the story...**

**but yeah! and then i realized that i havent really post about like three chapters before that one. and that im waay over this one - i thought i had already posted it. but oh well! soo here ya go! hope you enjoy!**

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**The Forest – 6:30**

Trish and Dez, mesmerized, watched as Austin and Ally's heads were only a handbreadth apart. Then the two music lovers faced each other, and magic stilled time, letting no one breathe. Just one gentle push and there would be not a hair between their longing lips.

_No! Yes! Nooooo! This can't be happening! What about Elliot?! He's perfect for you, Ally! _Trish screamed in her head, yet she did nothing. Trish partly wanted Austin and Ally together, like when Ally told Trish that she liked him. But that was before Austin kept on letting her down, and before sweet, gentle Elliot came. Yet, Austin and Ally…

Dez on the other hand was enjoying this. _Austin's finally figured it out_. He loudly sighed in contentment, and then covered his mouth in horror. Trish flashed him a dangerous look and hid completely behind the tree. Dez did the same.

Just about to lock lips, they heard it. Somehow. Though their hearts were pounding, their butterflies all over the place, yet they heard a very loud sigh. Austin almost came back to the scene at hand, but Ally was already gone. Blushing like tomatoes, they both got up.

"Here. I'll get that," Austin said quietly. He stopped Ally with his words from trying to untangle the guitar strap from their necks. He easily plucked it from their necks and set the guitar down where they were sitting. Ally refused to look at him, in fear of him seeing her bright pink cheeks and flustered face. _What just happened?_ they both thought in a daze.

Then Ally led the way to tree that sighed. She didn't expect to find Trish, burning red, and a pouty Dez. "What are you guys doing here?!" Austin exclaimed in surprise.

"Oh, you know, just casually sitting behind this tree while we had no idea that you guys were about to kiss," Dez squeaked. This just brought on more blushing, if even possible from the other party.

"Smooth genius!" Trish spat out. She got up hurriedly. "Well, no need to stop for us. Carry on, whatever it was you two were doing, and we'll be on our way!" Trish tried to make a quick escape, but was held still by Ally's firm hand on her arm. She turned around and saw Ally's crossed arms.

"Trish…" she started crossly. Trish gave a sheepish smile.

Dez got up. "Hey! Look at the time! I'm _starving_!"

Everyone stared down at their stomachs, noticing how hungry they all were.

"Well, it looks like the rain stopped," Austin pointed out, also noticing the lack of the constant sound of buckets of rain. Everyone looked up and around. Austin's hand flew to the back of his neck in the awkward silence. "So uh…back to the mall?"

**Elliot's House – 5:20**

"Hey dad, I'm home!" Elliot yelled, running through the door. He was soaked. Elliot swiped his shoes on the doormat, went back inside, and took off his shoes. He then took off his jacket and neatly hung it on a hook, putting his backpack down too. Elliot went straight to the kitchen.

He looked in the fridge and found some milk. As he drank a glass (not from the carton of course), Elliot's dad walked through the kitchen.

"Hey, what's for dinner?" he asked.

"I was thinking a fettucine alfredo main dish with a side of Caesar salad," Elliot replied.

"My stomach's already grumbling just thinking about it!" his Dad laughed. Elliot smiled back. Elliot's dad ruffled his boy's wet hair. "Thank you for all the help you've been, kiddo."

"No problem, Dad," Elliot said, now serious. "I want to help in any way I can."

Elliot's dad sat down at the table in the middle of the kitchen. His dark brown hair was fading quickly into gray, and his eyes shone a matching silver. Elliot got his bright green eyes from his mother. Everything else was mainly his dad – like the natural muscular build, the hard jaw, and the soft hair. But his gentle features - the kind eyes, the round lips, and the soft, clear skin - all came from his mom. How he missed his mom…

Seeing his son fade away again, Mr. Giordano changed the subject. "So how was the first day of soccer, Elliot?"

Elliot snapped out of it, and gazed at his father in a blank stare until he registered what he had said. "Oh, it was a little damp," he said, his eyes gesturing to the pouring rain outside.

"Huh. I never noticed!"

"Need glasses Dad? Or a _hearing aid_?" Elliot joked. The rain was quite loud.

"Are you insinuating that I'm _old_?"

"Well…" Elliot trailed off with a smile. Mr. Giordano, however had already covered his ears and ran out of the kitchen. Elliot chuckled to himself and started to boil some water over the stove.

**Keira's House – 7:00**

All ready for the Olsen's beach party, Keira looked in her full body mirror. _Yeah, you look hot._ She was dressed in a magenta dress. The top was tight and strapless, stopping at the end of her chest which was marked with a thick white ribbon that tied a big bow in the back. From there, zigzagging ruffles alternated sliding down until the middle of Keira's thigh. Each ruffle had an underlying fabric of white underneath. Keira placed a tiny matching bow in her hair to match the dress, not really changing her usual hairstyle. She put on a white teddy bear necklace, a pair of magenta earrings, and a bunch of mismatching white bracelets on too. Keira finished the outfit with three inch magenta pumps. Her makeup was her usual, and as a final thought, put on a pair of sassy white sunglasses.

She was going to stop thinking about Austin and Ally tonight. Not only because she looked great, but because she needed to. She concluded after dinner that if Austin liked Ally, who was she to stop him? She wasn't a raging famous spoiled brat who spat an angry tantrum every time she didn't get her way. Plus, Austin wasn't the only hot guy out there. Logan Lerman and a bunch of other cute actors were going to be there, and even though she was jailbait for him, she was going to try her luck.

Keira's phone vibrated. She turned away from the mirror to see who had texted her. Emma was there with her party limo to pick her up for the party. Keira smiled, picked up her white clutch and phone, and was out of there.

**The Mall – 7:00**

The walk back was silent for a time until Trish and Ally fell behind and started talking to each other very quietly. The boys talked to each other too, and that was how it stayed: first grade cooties all over again. Both sides cast furtive glances to each other, and turning back around like they weren't just sneaking looks at them. By the time they reached Melody Diner, both sides had caught up with everything.

After they took their order, Ally and Trish went to the bathroom to clean up. The two girls were mortified when they took a good look at themselves in the mirror.

"I look awful!" Ally exclaimed.

"_You_ look awful?! Look at me! It looks like I've lived with Tarzan for the past sixteen years of my life!"

"Trish you don't look – " Ally was interrupted by the glare Trish gave her. "Okay, you look bad, but not _that_ bad."

"It's my hair. It looks like a flea infested wolf laid down on my head and decided to give birth!"

"Aww, Trish…"

"But Ally, you don't look that bad." Ally was just about to thank Trish, but then Trish said, "But you do look bad." Ally harrumphed. She started to pick some leaves out of Trish's hair. "Austin doesn't notice of course," the Latina mumbled.

Ally stopped working. "What?" she asked, half hoping Trish would scream it out to the world and half hoping she wouldn't repeat it again. Because Ally knew what Trish had said, she just couldn't accept the implied meaning behind it. For some reason, in Ally's mind, if Trish said what she had again, then Ally would know for sure that Austin liked her and that what she felt in the woods wasn't just herself bringing up some fickle feelings she had felt two weeks before.

"Eh, nothin," Trish replied, occupied with her hair. Ally began working again, unnoticed by her friend the utter disappointment that seeped out of her chest.

**Melody Diner Booth – 7:00**

"Dez, I think Ally likes me too!" Austin started excitedly as soon as he saw the girls walk out of earshot. "What happened in the forest…it was like magic…" Austin faded with a giddy smile.

Dez snapped his fingers in front of Austin's face. Austin startled back to life. "I knew it," Dez smiled smugly, leaning back in his seat.

"What?"

"That all this would happen. You know, you and Ally. It was meant to be," the redhead sighed with a flare of his hands, imitating a butterfly.

"So should I ask her out?" Austin asked eagerly.

"Does a flying squirrel do Irish jigs on Easter?"

"…Yes?"

"No man! First of all, flying squirrels do not do the Irish jig. Period. And if they did, it would be on Christmas, okay?" Dez waited for a hesitant nod from Austin, and then continued, "Second of all, Ally is one of your _best friends. _Are you willing to risk that? And your partnership too!"

"What do you mean?" Austin asked, clueless.

"Let's say: you guys have a fun time, but you aren't meant for each other. Something goes wrong – like you buy her a coconut for her birthday or something, there's a big fight, and you break up."

Austin stared at him with big, brown puppy eyes. "It would never be the same," he said in a daze. How did he not think of this?!

"NoPe," Dez said, leaning back and emphasizing the p with a pop.

"I couldn't imagine _not_ being friends with Ally now…"

"And what about Keira? How would she react if she suddenly found out you two were going out? Daughter of your record label's manager!" Dez kept going relentlessly.

"Keira wouldn't do that," Austin waved away the implication.

"How well do you know Keira? She could be a mad scientist for all we know! Or Trent in disguise, waiting for something like this to happen, wanting to ruin your life!"

Austin shivered. "I hope not. That would be…" He stopped and shivered again.

"So I say, make sure you and Keira get off on good terms, and then ask Ally out. If you don't mind maybe ruining your friendship forever," Dez added in casually, not noticing his best friend cringe. "But dude, you better do it soon," Dez said, leaning in close. Austin mirrored him.

"Why?"

"Because Elliot's just the right guy for her! They're perfect together, and if you want Ally, you're gonna have to make her forget about that guy."

Austin was surprised. Yeah, a weird reaction, but it wasn't a reaction to what Dez had just said. You see, Austin had been fuming over Elliot for about the past two weeks, and the few hours he had, just him and Ally, he never thought of him. Or really of anything, but that was beside the point. Elliot hadn't even come up once between them. Once! You'd think Ally would have mentioned him at least once, but she hadn't.

This surprise though, was overtaken quickly by the remembrance of Elliot. Who did he think he was, just strutting into his school and taking _his_ Ally? Sure he was attractive, sure he was athletic, sure he was gentle and kind and sweet and everything Ally wanted in a guy…oh who was Austin even kidding?!

"I'm…nervous," Austin admitted.

"Oh, just break it off with her quick, like a mama fruit fly laying eggs."

"No." Austin gave Dez a weird look. "I'm talking about asking Ally out."

For once, the fiery giant had nothing to say. Not a witty comment, nor a stupid one. For a moment Dez just gaped at Austin. He cleared his throat. "What?"

Austin shrugged pathetically.

"But you've asked out tons of girls! All of them said yes, besides the ones with _boyfriends_, and sometimes not even them," Dez pointed out.

"But not…_Ally_," Austin replied, trying to get Dez to understand.

"How cute." And with that, Dez patted Austin on the head. He knew love when he saw it. Watching romance movies does that to a guy.

* * *

**hehehe. wanted to find out why Dez and Austin love and hate those woods? what Elliot's sad (yes, tis very sad) backstory is? whats been goin on in Ally's confused mind? if Kiera's ever going to be a semi big part again? or if Trish and Dez will ever become a thing? **

**well. thats too bad. i dont know the answers to really any of these questions. THATS WHY I NEED YOU! review pwetty, pwetty pweease?**

**haha well hoped you liked it! uhh ima post another chapter now, cause it was very anticlimactic. see ya soon!**


	9. Inside a Teen's Head

**hey! im back! so soon i know!**

**i think youll like this chapter...:D hehehe**

* * *

**Ally's Backyard – Saturday 3:00 pm**

"PICK!" Trish yelled, shattering the tranquil peace that had just been flowing not a minute ago.

Ally shot her best friend a glare. They were outside in Ally's little backyard, 'doing homework.' They were lying down on a hammock stretched between the shade of two trees. Trish was wearing a plain blue tank top and denim capris with a light blue headband to keep back her rebellious hair. Ally was across from Trish, her head resting on the tree behind her. She wore bright green denim shorts and a plain white beater. Her feet, covered in socks, were near Trish's head, and vice-versa so that they faced each other. Around them a quaint white fence was put up around the green yard, and flowers and fruit trees swamped the very back. Her mom's precious garden also held a rustic birdbath and a matching little birdfeeder, so tiny birds often came and went. It was one of Ally's favorite places to go -

"I SAID PICK!" Trish yelled again. Ally found that she had spaced out yet again. It was just so easy to do that here.

"Sorry, Trish. Pick what?"

"Who you like more!" Trish exclaimed, as if to say 'duh!' Met with another blank stare, she sighed. "Elliot or Austin?" she deadpanned.

"Whaaat?! Nooo," Ally nervously laughed. "They don't like me, as in like-like me! They think of me as a friend, and…I…do too?" Ally slowly added.

"Yeah. Very convincing."

Ally started playing with her hair absentmindedly, averting Trish's eyes. "It's just that I haven't really been _liked_ by anyone, besides, you know, _him_," Ally emphasized, and looked up to see Trish nodding. She occupied herself with her hair again. "And I don't know…I do like them, both of them…is that bad?" Ally asked in a small voice, and made eye contact this time with Trish.

She saw uncertainty and guiltiness among the dark chocolate floating in Ally's eyes. "No! Of course not! It's fine to like two people at once – you shouldn't feel guilty at all. And you have been liked by _plenty_ of guys, Ally. Trust me, you don't notice it, but I see guys checking you out everywhere we go. And there's also that guy who regularly came to the store just to talk to you."

Ally waved it off, but Trish could tell she was blushing ever so slightly. "He was just being friendly…" she mumbled.

"Ally. He bought you a bouquet of flowers."

"It was my birthday!"

"And where did he find that out?" Trish asked slyly. Ally's big eyes got wider. "And no, it wasn't me."

"…that's creepy. I hate to say this, but now I'm kind of glad he moved."

"Yup."

**Sonic Boom – 3:00 pm**

"Ally! Ally, gue – " Austin was stopped short by the sight of a balding, slightly overweight middle aged man standing where Ally stood every 3:00 on Saturdays.

"Yes, Austin?" he replied with a smile. Austin fidgeted with the zipper on his jacket, embarrassed. "I gave Ally the day off today. She's been pretty busy," Mr. Dawson explained.

"Oh…well do you know where she is?" Austin asked, brimming with hope.

"As I said, Austin, she's pretty busy. Trish is already with her, and adding you, and probably Dez, would just make giving her the day off totally meaningless," Mr. Dawson said with an apologetic shrug of his shoulders.

"I see, Mr. Dawson," Austin said, downcast.

Seeing the look on his face, Mr. Dawson added, "Well maybe Dez is available!"

"Yeah, I guess, but I really wanna talk to Ally about something…"

"I'm also available!" Mr. Dawson cheerily suggested, wondering why he hadn't thought of this sooner. Mr. Dawson wanted to know if he was still in with the kids these days. Whenever he asked Ally, she just giggled, kissed him on the cheek, and left the room. Maybe he could get a red hot sports car? Would that be…cool? That was the saying, right? Chilly, cool, cold? Eh. Close enough. He could be 'hip', right?

Austin right away felt the urge to run. "You know what, Mr. Dawson? I think that Dez_ is_ available!" Austin said, backing away slowly.

"But you're already here! And plus, I'm pretty hip, if I do say so myself," Mr. Dawson smiled.

The teen plastered on a half hearted smile. "It's really okay…I mean, you're working and all…"

"No problem! It's really not that busy today anyway!"

"Would you really want to hear me drone on and _on_ about the whiny life of a teenager…?"

"I'll make the sacrifice! And besides I'm not that old, you know. I'm very hip!"

"Erm…you have better things to do than listen to _me_…"

"Austin, there's nothing I'd rather do than spend some one-on-one time with a fellow young and hip guy like myself!"

Cornered, and running out of things to say without sounding _too_ desperate, Austin gave in. "Uh…then let's talk then?"

"Sure thing, 'bro'!" Mr. Dawson added a playful punch to Austin's muscular arm.

This was going to be a long day.

**Ally's Backyard**

"So if you had to, or else you would have to live with Dez for the rest of your life, who would you choose?" Trish asked. Ally sighed.

"Can't we just work on homework? You know, like how we were _supposed to_?"

"Ally, we have to deal with the serious matters at hand here first," Trish reasoned, grabbing Ally's bio textbook and throwing it out of the hammock.

"Hey!" Ally exclaimed, incredulous.

"You should have expected that. And by expecting that, you secretly, subconsciously, wanted me to do that. And that means that you actually want to talk, but you refuse to in fear of letting more scary feelings seep out."

Ally gave her an incredulous stare, complete with huge eyes and a gaping mouth. "W-w-whaaat?"

Trish flicked back her hair with a cocky lift of the chin. "I just know how to read people."

"And you say you always sleep in psych."

"No, I do. This is just natural talent," Trish grinned.

"Oh of course! Only one of many," Ally deadpanned with a smirk.

"Sometimes I just hate it when you're so sarcastic."

"Sometimes I just hate it when you're so insistent," Ally replied, bringing the conversation back to Trish's incessant question.

"Only because you need to pick! Believe it or not, you're leading them both on," Trish remarked.

"What?! No, no I would never do that! And leading them on would also mean that they liked me," the brunette argued.

"Honey, of course they like you! Have you _seen_ them around you?! Elliot is in little Ally heaven – "

"Is not!" Ally retorted quite childishly.

" – and Austin can't take his eyes off you." Trish paused to let the fact that the brunette was blushing occur to herself (which made her blush even more), and continued, "So yeah, I don't know how you haven't noticed. Seeing all those romance movies, you'd think you'd have a clue!"

"I guess I'm just a little oblivious?"

"No, you're not. You notice every raindrop on a tulip, and every leaf on a tree. For Pete's sake, you noticed Mr. Girandi's crush on Ms. Peverton! I don't even know how!"

"It was the faint smile on Mr. Girandi's face whenever we mentioned Ms. Peverton's crazy English class," Ally interrupted.

"I always took that as a smirk…"

"And the way Mr. Girandi loves birds and the way Ms. Peverton loves fairies. It was pretty obvious."

"Huh. I just regarded their obsessions as crazy and the reason they were alone."

Ally laughed, a melodic sound that coincided with the chattering birds around them quite perfectly. "That's why they're so great for each other! I got a wedding invitation, you know."

"What?! When?"

"Just this morning. There was also a note saying I could bring someone so I wasn't alone. And that I was going to have a special part in their speech for matching them up," the giddy girl smiled.

"See?!" Trish exclaimed, thrusting her hands out with enthusiasm. "Proves my point," she said contentedly, leaning back against the tree on her side and crossing her arms.

Ally laughed – she couldn't help it.

"But seriously – who?" Trish asked, serious.

"I would have to consider all possible routes that both relationships would go," Ally honestly said.

"Go on…" the Latina sighed.

Ally sat up straighter, excited to make a pro/con list. "Who first?" the brunette asked.

"Hmm…Elliot," Trish drawled.

"Well, Elliot's awesome! We get along great together – have the same hobbies, like the same things, and yet, we're not too much alike. There are differences between us and we can talk for a long time without getting bored. Although, that could just be because we're still catching up…ish. But I'm pretty sure that we wouldn't run out of stuff to talk about? I'm not really sure. I mean, yeah, I've known him longer than Austin, but camp was still years ago, and I'm still finding more things out about him."

"So you guys get along well and you have lots of stuff in common?" Trish summarized.

"Yeah. And, well, he's really attractive too…" Ally shyly commented quietly. Trish smiled devilishly. "I told you about the time when we were cleaning his shirt up…?" Black curls shook up and down as Trish eagerly nodded. "I just…I couldn't stop blushing! I mean, just his face too! He has _beautiful_ light green eyes and his hair looks so soft I just want to touch it! And his lips – " Ally caught herself.

"Hmm…" Trish hummed with a smirk.

Ally blushed. "And um…" she fidgeted. "Well, his character is great too, as I was saying a minute ago. He is one of the sweetest guys I've ever known. He is such a gentleman! He's the kind of guy who will never forget the anniversary, who can't get mad at anyone, even though they deserve it…he's _so_ sweet…" Ally drifted off. Her eyes sparkled.

"Uh-huh. And Austin?"

The brunette's attention flipped back to her friend before her at the mention of his name. She sighed. "Austin's complicated. He's dating Keira, and I love Keira. She's sweet, and nice, and is, plainly, my friend. Do I really want to do that to her? Especially when I tried my best to convince her nothing was going on with Austin and me."

"A conundrum," Trish remarked.

"Quite. And to think of it without any emotional ties, she's Jimmy's _daughter_. The _head_ of Austin's record label for cryin' out loud!" Ally added for more emphasis. "I know Jimmy doesn't mix up personal matters with business, but they're both really close." The brunette bit her lip. "And if anything happens to Austin's _career_ because of _me_, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. I could ruin his life! Well, that's a bit dramatic, but it's possible. And yeah, ruining my friendship with Keira would be a disaster too."

Trish gave her a look.

"I'm not saying Austin's career is more important than my friendship with Keira! Actually it kind of really is, but that's beside the point! Think of it like this: ruining one of my best friend's dreams or breaking the new, fragile friendship you have with someone you've only known for a month or so."

Trish nodded. "Understandable. Go on."

"Another point would be that Austin and I have a partnership going. And a strong friendship. Can you imagine what a bad break-up could do to both of those things? I would miss Austin so much – too much in fact. It wouldn't be worth the risk." Seeing Trish about to interrupt, Ally continued quickly so Trish wouldn't have had a chance to. "And how could we create songs without it ever being awkward? It's either we'd get back together and do those awful on-and-off things that just create more trouble, or he gets another song writer. That would be pretty painful to see too."

"Aww, Ally…" her best friend cooed.

"And besides, how could it ever work out?" Seeing her friend's confusion, she elaborated. "I mean, we're just too different. Elliot and I…we actually have things in common. Quite a lot, actually. But apart from music, Austin and I don't have anything in common. _He _would forget the anniversary. _He _would say all the wrong things. And he's really immature."

"But at the same time…" Trish egged on. She could sense the words on the very tip of Ally's tongue needing to be coaxed out.

"But at the same time, it's one of the many irresistible charms that he has," Ally gushed. Trish's eyes bulged at what Ally had just said, but Ally didn't see her face. Instead, she was fiddling with her hair as she gazed into the cloudless, blue sky. "He's so free, and it just makes you want to forget you're sixteen and fly back to the days of kindergarten. Yeah, I act like a kindergartener sometimes…"

_Pfft. Sometimes._ Trish thought.

"…but his childishness is more spontaneous and exciting, and many times really idiotic, but that's the funny part. He can make the most boring day really fun, and knows exactly what to do at exactly the right times. Yeah, he doesn't have a way with words like, at _all_, but I guess that's what I'm here for. We make up for each other's weaknesses." Ally's smile grew wider at the realization. She continued, "His actions make up for all the stupid things he says, like the time when he chose to dance with me at your quincinera when he thought he was losing a huge opportunity, but he chose to comfort me instead. Or the time when he snuck out to help me raise money for buying the instruments for the store. Or when he – "

"I get it," Trish snapped impatiently. Ally almost jumped out of her daze and blushed.

"Well…anyway the point was that he's really sweet. He does lots of stupid stuff, but he does lots of sweet things that make up for it. And for some reason, I've only noticed all of it now," Ally said, a confused expression covering her face. Shaking her head, she continued. "But the reason I started liking Austin is because of this chemistry we have. And I should have noticed it before – writing so many songs with him you'd think – but there's just something I can't explain about it…"

"I see."

"Yeah…and like Elliot, I could never run out of things to talk about with him. He's the kind of guy who is really nice, yet not boring. Really funny, yet not insulting. Austin and I are really close too. I could tell him anything, and he could tell me anything. But for some reason, he's been getting distant. Maybe because I've been spending more time with Elliot? But he _lied_ to me too…and that hurt…a lot…" Ally remembered. She winced with the memory, and Trish's eyebrows furrowed. "He's lied to me before, but that time, something was really, truly bothering him, and it wasn't something stupid like losing something of mine or disliking a song of mine. It was something personal, like he was really upset and couldn't tell _me_. We don't keep those kinds of secrets from each other, Trish." Ally sat there for a moment, thinking. Then she shook her head. "Well that's it!" she said hurriedly. The tiny brunette tried to occupy herself from the conversation at hand and saw her textbook lying on the ground untouched. She thought she could just about reach it…

"Ally, what are you – "

"Aaahhh!" And with that, she fell to the ground. "Ow," she said lamely.

Trish was shocked at first, but hearing the tiny "ow" escape from Ally's lips was priceless, and she knew she wasn't hurt. She started laughing, a laugh that made Ally smile.

"Hey!" Ally protested, trying to hide her grin. Hearing the ongoing chuckling, she pointed out, "I could have been seriously hurt! A broken leg or a twisted ankle of some sort! A-a concussion!"

Trish continued to laugh, coaxing a smile from her friend, and eventually they were both laughing together. After a while, they stopped, still grinning from ear to ear.

"You're really clumsy, you know that?"

"Yeah…"

"Oh, if I had a videocamera…" Trish giggled. "Hey! I know you're rolling your eyes!"

"You can't even see me! I'm on the ground."

"Like I said – I'm great at reading people."

Ally sighed with mock-annoyance.

"You _were_ rolling your eyes, weren't you?"

"…"

**Sonic Boom **

"And that's why…yup," Austin finished.

"That's just about one of the saddest things I've ever heard!" Mr. Dawson grabbed another tissue from the box beside him. "There's no way anyone can be happy!" he sniffed.

"Mr. Dawson…?"

"Mm-hmm?"

"You have another customer," Austin pointed out, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. While Mr. Dawson took care of the bewildered customer, Austin sat down on the couch that just about two weeks ago was happily playing thumb wars with Keira. Oh, if only he had known…

The blonde looked back at Ally's sniffling father blowing his nose (rather messily) and grabbing the disgusted customer's tambourine. Without noticing, he then accidentally dropped the tissue in, and the customer laid his money on the counter and almost ran out. _Maybe I shouldn't have told Mr. Dawson…_

Because, you see, Austin told the sensitive father his story, but without all the names of course. He pinned it on Dez, making up the story that Dez had made him watch one of his sappy romance movies, and Austin had to talk about it with someone. Yeah, it wasn't the best story, but he didn't have to make up something elaborate or something that made much sense because Mr. Dawson was working. And before he could really think about Austin's lie, he dived right into the 'plot of the movie' (which was really the whole situation that Austin was stuck in).

"…appy ending, right?" Mr. Dawson interrupted Austin's thoughts. He sat beside him with a replenished stock of tissues.

"Sorry, Mr. Dawson, what?" Austin said politely.

"The movie has a happy ending, right?" the middle-aged man asked eagerly.

"Weell, that's the thing. Me and Dez never got around to finishing it, and it's really bothering me," Austin lied with a shrug.

"Darn! I really want to know what happens now," Mr. Dawson pondered.

"Yeah. Me too," Austin replied with a flat voice.

Seeing the boy's downcast face, Mr. Dawson suggested, "Maybe I can get the movie and we can finish it together!"

Austin sat up straight like a board and looked right at Mr. Dawson. "No, no I think that's okay! I'll just wait for Dez and me to hang out again."

"It's really no problem. I really want to watch it too now!" Ally's father said with a childlike eagerness.

"I don't know the title…I'll ask Dez later?" the muscular blonde offered.

"Sure!" Mr. Dawson chirped.

_Whew!_ "Uh, one more thing, Mr. Dawson," Austin said quietly as Ally's father made to leave him on the couch. He looked back at Austin expectantly and he continued. "What do you think the main character should do?" Austin asked with puppy dog eyes.

"The one who's dating his boss's daughter but really likes the best friend?" he clarified. Austin quickly nodded. Standing over him, Mr. Dawson ruminated about it for a few minutes before answering. "I think that he should tell his best friend how he feels, or she might just move on with that other guy."

"But what about their friendship?"

"That's a good question," Mr. Dawson sighed as he sat back down again. This time, he sat so that he was across from Austin. "I think that if the friendship was as sound and great as it looks to be, then it shouldn't ruin their friendship," the wise man said slowly, gathering his thoughts.

"So what you're saying is, if we were _really_ best friends, then if it didn't work out, we would still stay best friends even if we did break up?"

"Exactly."

Austin smiled so wide it looked as if the ends of his lips were touching his ears. "Thanks so much, Mr. Dawson!" The giddy kid jumped up, hugged a surprised father, and ran out of the store.

Mr. Dawson shook his head with a smile on his face. _Kids…_

Sitting on the couch, he then thought about the conversation.

He wondered if he was being hip.

He wondered why Austin cared so much about the movie that he had resorted to talking it out.

He wondered why Austin was so happy with his advice to the main character.

Then he realized just at the very end, Austin said _we_.

Mr. Dawson's smile slowly dissipated into a very unhappy frown.

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**i really loved that ending! did you? yes? (i hope) no? then REVIEW! thanks!**

**k i should go...but Dez's crazy moment is in a couple chapters i thinketh. just a heads up! bye and thanks for reading!**


	10. Coincidence

**ugh okay so ive been the worst procrastinator ever lately! i NEED to focus on this paper...**

**ima try. right. now.**

**k. got one paragraph done! whooo! ima post another chapter cause i feeeel like it. no, its cause of my horrible procrastination. HELP ME!**

**sigh.**

**so it occurred to me a few chapters ago that maybe i should put up a disclaimer, you know, once in a while, so here world!:**

**Disclaimer: ...no.**

**yay! that should be good enough, right? ah whatevah. **

**so THANK YOU ALL for your awesome reviews! they make me smile :D**

**k so if you havent skipped this yet, im done - sorry for ramblin...read!**

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**Dez's House – 5:00 pm**

"Stupid math…" Dez muttered under his breath. He was wearing a black shirt with a rhino on a treadmill, and beside the rhino was a picture of a unicorn taped to a wall. Underneath it read: ARE RHINOS JUST OBESE UNICORNS? He wore checkered purple and yellow as pants and his shoes promoted Batman, saying BANANANANANANANABATMAAN! He painted the shoes himself.

Then he heard the door bang, a scream, a "HEEEEY MRS. PARRADO!", and loud stomping up the stairs. Dez shook his head in amusement.

Once Austin got to Dez's pitch black splattered painted door, he quietly opened it. Then he tiptoed to Dez's chair and was about to scare the _pee_ out of him…

"Hey Austin," Dez greeted casually without turning around. "Whatcha doin'?"

"How do you _do_ that?!" Austin sighed, exasperated.

"Well actually, it's all – "

"Know what? Never mind – I've found out something importanté from good ol' Mr. D!" Austin exclaimed, getting all up in Dez's face. Dez sighed and put down his pencil, turning to Austin. Austin sat on Dez's bed. "So we had a talk – long story," the blond added when he saw the flit of confusion on Dez's face. "And guess what he told me? About two best friends dating each other?"

"Austin, it's a bad idea, no matter how much you, me, or anyone else want you two to be tog – "

"Yeah I know that!" he snapped. "Just let me finish, okay?" The redhead nodded slowly.

So Austin started his story.

**Ally's Backyard – 5:00 pm**

"So then my French teacher says, 'SHUT UP YOU NOMNOMS!' and then the principal comes back in and asks if everything is all right."

"No! Really?"

"Yeah! And then Madame says in a little sheepish voice 'Yes, Mr. Castellano' and everyone's just cracking up. When I looked back up at her, her face was as red as her hair," Ally finished.

"Oh, I would've loved to be there," Trish chuckled.

"Yeah, it was hilarious. You want the last slice?" Ally asked, holding up the last piece of gooey cheesy heaven.

"Nah, it's all right. You need some more meat on those bones."

"You mean fat? Cause this thing is all grease," Ally added as drops of oil started to ooze off the cheese.

Trish turned away in disgust. "Yeah, that thing is all yours," she replied.

Ally, feeling really full, placed the pizza back in the box and lowered it to the ground. They were still in the hammock. "Well I'm stud – "

"Hey guys!" a deep, familiar voice greeted.

"Hey we're in the back!" Trish yelled back.

A figure in dark blue jeans and a black shirt appeared from the side of Ally's house. His green eyes seemed to glow against the darkening sky. "What's up?" he asked casually with a kind smile. Ally's stomach did a flip.

Trish noticed. "Oh, you know, hangin' out. Eatin' pizza. Want the last slice? We're both pretty full," the Latina offered.

"I'm fine. Just passing through. My friend and I were biking, and I saw your house, and so – why not?"

"Where's your friend?" Trish asked, looking for any other guys.

Elliot looked behind him, confused. "I thought he was right behind me…uhh one sec – I'll go get him."

As Elliot went back to Ally's front yard, Trish kicked her. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"He so did this on purpose!"

"Did what?" That response just got the poor brunette another kick. "OW!"

"Coming here? Bringing another guy?" Ally stared at her frustrated feisty friend. "…like a double date?"

"What?! But I'm not – "

"Here he is!" Elliot called out. "This is Mark. Mark, this is Ally, and that's Trish." The black haired boy was wearing a plain green short sleeve with gray jeans, black sneakers, and a black Miami High baseball cap. His face showed something of shyness, and that he really didn't want to be there.

Elliot looked up smiling, but this soon faded. Trish and Ally stared at his friend like he were an alien or just wearing nothing but underwear, or _something_. And Mark couldn't seem to bring his head up. Elliot nudged him, gave him a look.

"Hey," Mark mumbled.

The girls continued gaping. But not for long. "What is _he_ doing here?!" Trish exploded. The question was directed at Elliot, but she glared menacingly at poor Mark, who for some reason found his sneakers very interesting.

This raised Ally from her stupor. She turned to Elliot. "What she means is – "

"_What_ is _he _doing _here_?! That's what I mean Ally!" Blacks curls bounced as Trish turned to someone besides Mark for the first time in the awkward encounter. "You should be reacting the same as I am, considering _he_ was your boyfriend, not mine!"

"W-what?" Elliot asked ungracefully. He turned to Mark. "_What_?"

"Uh, Elliot, man, I meant to – "

"Meant to tell him? Suure, just like how you meant – " A fragile hand touched Trish's tense shoulder.

"Trish, I think this can go a little less awkward and dramatic if you stop yelling. I appreciate the support though," Ally added.

The Latina took a deep breath of outside. "Okay," she exhaled.

Ally fake-smiled. She made to get out of the hammock. First one leg… "Soo you two – ahh!" And Ally would've fell to the ground, if not for (here's a surprise) Mark.

"Never got rid of your clumsiness, huh?" he murmured in her ear as he lifted her onto the ground. Elliot tensed.

Ally blushed and pushed Mark away as soon as her tiny feet pattered the soft grass. "Uh, thanks," she quickly and quietly said. "Um. Who wants to go inside? I've got cookies!"

* * *

**soo this is really short so ima post another chapter right after this. but anyway, i gave Dez a last name cause i dunno, everyone had a last name and the poor guy was feeling left out. so i gave him one and the world is right again. unless he already has one and i just never...oh well! this is his new one. and thats final. unless you guys actually know his real name and are kinda annoyed that im just giving him one...**

**but anyway! i finished that paper by the way! if anyone cares, which is probably a no so im just gonna hide in the corner now...**

**...and with that done, i hope you know why i added Mark in, cause who doesnt love a bit of coincidence to spice up a story? hmm? HMMM?**

**haha im weird. sorry. sooo tell me whatcha think and ima post the next chapter!**


	11. Cookies, mystery, and a punch

**so this is Dez's awesome crazy part. :D**

* * *

**Ally's Front Door – 6:00 pm**

"It's all gonna be all right man. You got this." Dez was encouraging his best friend as he rang the intricately carved doorbell. It was in the shape of a poofy owl with huge eyes that followed you wherever you turned. "Creepy," he muttered.

"Thanks Dez," Austin replied, choosing not to ask why Dez was calling him creepy.

"Ugh! Why is everyone coming here _now_?!" a muffled familiar voice yelled. A short, tan diva opened the door. Her eyes bulged out of her head right before she slammed the door in the shocked faces of a blond and a redhead.

"Trish!" someone whispered.

"I couldn't help it! It's just – "

"No time for explanations! Just open the darn door!"

"But –"

"But what?"

"If you would let me finish – "

"Triiish!"

"Fine, fine!"

The door slowly creaked open. Austin and Dez looked upon a grumpy Trish. "Is now a –"

"Bad time? No duh, doofus," she deadpanned. Trish turned away from Austin's snickering and Dez's pouting face as she walked to the kitchen. She didn't wait for them to follow.

When Austin and Dez entered the kitchen, Ally, Trish, and Elliot – ELLIOT?!

Austin pulled back Dez behind the corner of the wall. "Elliot's here!" Austin hissed. Dez made an exasperated face and pushed him back into the kitchen where they were all making cookies. And Mark was – "MARK?!" Austin and Dez exclaimed.

The boy cringed. "Yup, that would be me."

The two incredulous boys stared accusingly at Ally and Trish. Ally tried to ignore them while Trish explained, "Well, he came with Elliot…"

"So you decided to bake him cookies?!" Austin almost yelled.

"Uh – well – " Trish stuttered. She sighed. "Ask Ally," she mumbled, continuing her cookie cutting.

"Ally?"

"Mmm?"

"What the _heck _is – "

"Austin," Ally sighed. "In due time. Once we're done this batch, we can all sit down and talk. Finish some unfinished business, you could say," Ally said sharply, ripping the dough she was kneading in half. Elliot gave her a shocked stare and from Mark, a nervous gulp.

**Ally's Stairwell**

"But what could he be _doing_ here?!" Austin vehemently whispered.

"I don't know dude!" Dez replied exasperatedly for the third time. His stomach rumbled for the _thirtieth_ time. "But I'm _so_ hungryyyy!" The starved redhead looked down at his tummy and rubbed it. "Don't worry, Ally and Trish and Elliot are gonna feed us," he murmured. His stomach growled in response.

Austin gave him a look, shook his head, and continued, "You think she still likes him?"

"_Him_? Nah, couldn't be…although, anything in your case seems pretty possible so…"

**Ally's Porch**

"Okay," Ally sighed. She set the last plates of chocolate chip cookies down while Trish filled six cups with cold milk. "That should be it. Now time for the explaining part. I hope I don't ruin anything between Mark and Elliot…or _me_ and Elliot," Ally mumbled.

Trish looked up at her despairing friend, noticing the uncharacteristic incorrect grammar. "Ally, what happens happens. Nothing much more than that. And if Elliot and Mark's friendship falls apart, you can't blame yourself. Plus, if it does, it means their friendship wasn't sound enough anyways."

"They've been friends since two weeks ago," the dark brunette deadpanned.

Trish's pitch black curls bounced as she shrugged. "Their problem, not mine."

"Wow. Thanks, Trish."

**Ally's Kitchen**

After Ally and Trish left the room to set up, Austin and Dez came upon Mark like bees on honey.

"So why're you here, _Mark_?"

"Did you think you could get Ally back _now_?"

"What did you think would happen? That she'd _miss_ you?"

"Or was it really the _cookies_, Mark?" Dez interrogated. Austin, and even Mark stared at Dez in incredulity while Dez gave him the evil eye.

An empty laugh pervaded the awkward silence. "Yeah, definitely the cookies Dez." Everyone turned to look at the forgotten green eyed boy sitting at the kitchen island staring off into space. He looked back at them with an amused expression.

"I knew it!" Dez exclaimed, pumping a fist.

"Yeah…so I'm just gonna – " Mark made to leave the scene to be anywhere but there, but Austin grabbed him by his green collar. Mark winced.

"Nice try," Austin smiled devilishly.

Elliot stared blankly until he realized that Mark was staring right back at him, panic evident in his eyes. He was looking for Elliot to intervene.

Elliot wasn't a bad friend. In fact, he was one of the most loyal, caring, and kind friends to be around. But he was confused. Why had Mark hidden knowing Ally? Come to think of it, did they –

"GUYS! COME OUT TO THE PORCH!" Everyone stood stock still, as if they all were in a picture. A beat passed. "FINE! ME AND ALLY WILL EAT ALL THE COOKIES! MORE FOR US!" the Latina added. Dez, panicked, dashed out of the kitchen. Austin sighed, and not without casting a hateful glare at Mark, followed Dez.

"Guess we should go," Elliot sighed, standing up.

"Nah, I'ma go. This drama's way too intense for me," Mark said, walking towards the front of the house.

"No, I don't think you should," Elliot replied tersely, grabbing Mark's arm. He turned around, surprised, and pointedly looked at Elliot's strong white knuckles on his biceps. "Sorry," Elliot mumbled.

"And why can't I go?" Mark challenged.

"Because I am curious too, as to what you're trying to hide from me about you and Ally," Elliot said smoothly, playing the guilt card.

"You trying to guilt me Elliot?" Mark questioned, calling him out. "Well, what about defending your friend, Elliot, when I was being interrogated by two dudes who looked like they were gonna beat me up any second?!"

The brunette pulled at his collar. "Well I – "

"WHAT THE HECK IS TAKING SO LONG?!" Trish screeched from the porch. Mark walked past him, purposely and harshly bumping his "friend" as he passed by. Elliot took the blow, exhaled, and calmly followed suit.

_Wait, _I'm_ following _Mark_? How does he know his way around this place? _

"FINALLY! Okay, Elliot. You get that chair." Trish gestured from her seat next to Ally the seat beside Mark. Mark was sitting next to Ally while Austin sat next to Trish and Dez next to where Elliot was about to sit. Everyone had their own milk and plates, with cookie platters scattered around – all chocolate chip. Dez was already eating who-knew-how-many, with five other cookies on his plate besides.

Elliot looked around the familiar porch he had grown to love over the last two weeks. It was connected to the back door, but once inside, it was spacious. The porch was blue and had some columns supporting the roof of it that connected to the wooden railing. The supports and the railing came to a stop as a gap opened between the two sides, creating an entryway to the backyard, from which the hammock and surrounding garden was easy to see. The rectangular white table with the matching chairs the six were munching at was scooted to the left. On the right were an old-fashioned rocking chair and a slightly swinging loveseat, which were white too.

Elliot swept his head back to seize a few cookies onto his plate when his eyes automatically locked on Ally. As the sun was slowly setting in the background, the orange light complimented her dark brown hair. She was daintily nibbling a cookie, staring into space as Trish whispered in her tiny ear. As the Latina pulled away, Ally's eyes flew up to give her a sarcastic eye-roll, but her faint smile betrayed that she was laughing inside. As if sensing a pair of eyes on her, she turned to stealthily glance at Elliot, knowing that most people would flit away in embarrassment, but he held his lock on her, and soon they were in a staring match, sending secret messages just through the passage of her eyes connected to his. This only lasted for a moment, a fleeting moment as Ally, blushing, looked down and tried to reduce the rosiness in her cheeks by gulping down some cold milk. But alas, this is Ally we're talking about here, so she accidentally tipped over her remaining milk onto her plate, and also splashing it onto herself, she cried a little yelp.

Austin, who was glaring daggers at Mark, was plucked out of his daydream of violently taking Mark by the collar and shoving all the milk down his pants as Ally yelped. His head whipped to Ally, who was already being aided by Trish, Elliot, and…Mark? In fact, Mark was helping Ally the most as Elliot stood there like whatever he was going to do, Mark had already beaten him to it. His hand was just barely touching Ally's wrist as he wiped away stray drops on her arms. As he let go of her tiny wrist, it smoothly and swiftly ran against the underside of her palm, shooting sparks of nerves up her arm, making her tense up. He handed her napkins with a smile so that she could wipe off her own shorts and legs. She took them hesitantly and with an avoidance of eye contact. "Thanks," she mumbled. Elliot and Austin watched them curiously, and jealously. Was there something between them…?

"Clutz," Dez sloppily remarked, repulsively showing everyone the masticated food in his mouth.

"No one asked you," Trish snapped back. She was cleaning off Ally's sticky seat with a napkin.

She got up. "You should change," Trish faced Ally. Her tone had changed from one of fire, to one of exhaustion. "You can change on your own, right? I need to keep these guys in check," she said lowly, pointing to the table.

"Hey! Not quiet enough! I can still hear you!" Dez yelled.

"Wasn't meant to be, eavesdropper!" Trish retorted. Dez shrank back, reminded of the movie night with the girls.

"We don't have to be babysitted, you know," Austin mumbled.

"Babysat," Elliot corrected.

"Do you think I really care?" the blond snapped back. Elliot put his hands up in sincerity.

"You see?" Trish sighed. "Now go change," Trish ordered. "And hurry," she added with a desperate air about her.

"Okay, okay," Ally smiled. But she understood. Trish being with the boys for too long always drove her insane. But this really wasn't what Trish had meant.

Once Ally had left the room, Trish banged both of her hands on the table so everyone looked up at her from their seats (they had all sat down). "Okay, boys. Get all your pent up anger out now so when Ally comes, everyone can be on good behavior." They all stared up at her blankly. "Oh, like most of you don't hate each other!" Trish exclaimed. They all fidgeted in their seats like students in their seats on those days when the teacher picked one to answer at random. After a beat passed, she said, "Fine then. If no one will say anything, then I better hear fake laughter coming out of _all_ of your cowardly little mouths when Ally comes back. _Not one venomous snap, unless it's coming from me, or you'll have me to answer to._" Trish's voice had gone terribly quiet. When she'd heard no response, she added with acid, "You got it?!"

"Yep!"

"Mm-hmm!"

"Yes!"

"Totally clear!"

"Good," she said, taking a seat. "And I wasn't talking to you, dumbbutt." Here she nodded to Dez.

"Oh."

A beat passed. "Hey guys?" Elliot's voice peeped up. Everyone turned towards him. "So what I don't get here, is that there's so much hostility."

"Nobody cares about what _you_ don't get," Austin interrupted.

Elliot went on, ignoring him. "And how you know Ally." Here he turned to Mark beside him.

"We don't really need to go into that – "

"What, you never told him?" Austin scoffed. "Elliot clearly likes Ally. You know, like-likes, as the elementary schoolers would put it. Shouldn't you tell him about your deep dark past with Ally?"

Elliot and Trish gave Austin an awe-struck expression. Why was he in such a bad mood? The blond gulped down a quarter of his glass, avoiding their stares.

"Yeah, why not?" Dez added in, suddenly perking up with interest.

"Well, it was kinda personal," Mark said through gritted teeth. He was usually a laid back kind of guy, but now they were just so _irritating_.

"Then I heard right then," Elliot sighed. "You two went out? Like boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"No, Elliot," Austin interjected. "Like a dog and its master," he said, but only half-dripping with sarcasm.

Sensing it, Elliot said, "You mean – "

"That he was a complete control freak and left her emotionally scarred for life? Yeah, exactly what I mean."

"I don't need this!" Mark yelled, standing up, and consequently flying his plastic chair back.

"Oh, where's Ally…" Trish muttered, nervously nibbling a chocolate chip.

"You know what Austin? I know some of your personal issues too! One that you wouldn't want to share around the table either!" Not waiting for a reply, he spat out, "You like Ally too! You know, as in like-like!" he mocked.

Austin blanched. "What makes you think that?" he retorted, quite weakly.

"Everyone knows, Austin!" Mark said quietly, mockingly. He grabbed his chair and sat down again. "Everyone except the one that matters." Here Mark followed with a tsk, tsk. "Or maybe she does, and she's just been too friendzoned by you to actually consider you of more than a brother now," Mark attacked without mercy.

Austin stared down at his sweet array of chocolate chip cookies, feeling sick, his past daydreams of beating up Mark surprisingly sizzling down.

Dez, on the other hand, got up and punched Mark right in the kisser.

Trish, who was staring at Mark in incredulity, and for once having been speechless, didn't see Dez coming and gasped in horror as the other boy face-slammed into the ground.

Elliot got up and attended to his friend right away. Admonishing himself for not restraining Mark as he should have, he got the injured boy back on his seat and gently pushed Dez safely away back to his own seat too.

Dez numbly went back to his own seat. Without Elliot shepherding him back, he probably would have just stood there the rest of the day. He looked up at Austin and saw him staring back at him with a ghost of a smile on his shocked face. Seeing that, Dez shook himself out of his reverie, secretly grinning back.

Everyone sat in silence.

"Sorry I took so long. I thought I should wash myself a little in case I got sticky. So what are you guys talking about?" Ally entered with an old pair of plain blue jean shorts, taking her seat and a cookie.

A beat passed.

"Oh, nothin'," Dez replied casually.

* * *

**haha i love how its Dez who replies, out of all people. but at the same time, it makes a lot of sense. why am i commenting on my own story? review please, you wonderful readers, you! PLLEEEEAAASSSEEEE**

**if you guys wanna see a specific moment happen, and it doesnt interfere with the plot, then go! review! andelay, andelay! yeah thats probably not how you spell it, but im taking french, not spanish so whooooo! k ima go cause i have a dance recital! yeah! im PUMPED! im gonna own it with my fanciful grace and stuuff! yeah! haha noo but itll be fun :D**

**k. im go now. :D hope you enjoyed! thanks for reading!**


	12. A Little Bit of Everyone

**soo...i know its been awhile guys, and i am sorry! its just there has been finals and lots of pool parties...:D so now theres plenty of time since its SUMMER! but keep in mind, im not gonna update all the time...i have vacation for two weeks starting next next week and then hangin out and im actually gonna try to teach myself latin! **

**but thanks for still reading this! i really appreciate it :) i never thought this many people would like my story so thank you for following and just being awesome!**

**but keep in mind, before you read, to keep an ****_open_**** mind...this is an intense-ish chapter...**

* * *

**Ally's Porch**

"…okay then," Ally said after a beat. _Then why are you all acting so weird?_ she wanted to say, but she restrained herself because at that moment Trish caught her eye with stern eyes and a slight shake of her head. Ally responded with furrowed brows, but Trish had already turned away to resume her intense stare at her apparently interesting chocolate chip cookies. Just like everyone else.

Elliot pulled at his collar. "So…" he drawled, turning his attention from the cookies on his plate to Austin and Dez. "Why'd you guys come here in the first place? Hanging out?"

"Well," Dez started, "actually Austin really needed to talk to Al – "

"Bert! Albert," Austin butted in. He glanced around the table nervously.

Elliot could tell he was hiding something. He asked what everyone wanted to know, "…Albert?"

"Yeah! Albert! He…he uh…is a _dude_…"

"Trying to tell us something, Austin?" Mark snorted before Elliot nudged him.

"No! I mean uh…he's a dude who was…"

Ally examined Austin's reddening face and stuttering lips, and just wanted to help him. "Coming over here to help with me and Austin's science project!" Ally blurted. _Science project?! How much more obvious could I be?_ As if Trish were reading her mind, or maybe seeing into the future, the Latina face-palmed. "It's just…uh…he texted me that he couldn't make it. Exploded his goldfish," she blurbed. Seeing the shocked faces around the table, Ally elaborated. "Well the science project was – is," Ally corrected. "_Is_ about microwaves and he just wanted to test living things…and well you can guess what happened from there," she finished in a flash. Austin face-palmed. "And he loved his fish very much. So he has a private, so private that only people who knew…uh, Fishy, yes who knew and loved Fishy were invited." Everyone gaped at her, some with amused or bewildered faces. "Yup. That's what happened!" she finished.

Dez had only confusion plastered on. "What? No – "

"_Yes_ Dez, _yes_," Austin said slowly, with bulging eyes and bouncy nods of his head. Dez gave him a confused look right before his stomach growled again and started stuffing cookies in his face.

"Uh-huh," Mark hummed suspiciously.

Elliot sighed. "Okay then. Is there any topic that we could talk about that _doesn't_ have a hidden meaning behind every word?"

"I like pickles!" Ally cheered, partly because she really does, and partly because she felt bad for what Elliot just said. Everyone except Dez and Trish smiled at her. Trish shook her head and Dez just went on eating.

"We all know _that_, Ally," Mark warmly pronounced. Ally beamed at him, which seemed to encourage him to go on. "So," he said between a bite of his cookie, "I hear you're an awesome artist."

"Aww thanks, Mark!" Ally cooed. "But I only do half the work. Austin here," Ally gestured, "does all the singing and dancing that I could never do."

Austin was just about to say something when Mark turned back to Ally and pointed out, "But don't you sing?" With a frown Austin gulped down some more milk.

"Yeah, but you know I have awful stage fright. And besides," Ally said, a grin spreading across her face again, "Austin is way better at that kind of stuff than I am."

Again, Austin was just about to say something but – "I'm sure that's not true. When you get over your stage fright, you'll see," Mark said, pointing a cookie at her. Ally smiled. Austin did a little pout. Elliot shrugged to him, as if to say _yeah, I know how you feel, but what can you do?_

None of this was noticed by Ally as she and Mark continued their conversation. Trish just gave Mark dirty looks across the table, and occasionally participated in the conversation, but only to talk to Ally, never Mark. Dez continued eating…and eating.

"Hey, hey Ally!" Dez called across the table. The brunette looked up from the in-depth conversation she was having with Mark about how dog-eat-dog the music industry was sometimes. "We're running out of cookies!"

"You mean _you_ are, and no, you can't steal me and Trish's platter of cookies," Ally giggled.

Austin looked up from his pit of solitude (in other words, fantasizing quietly about how best the way to murder Mark later was) and stared at the crumbless platter before him. "You ate all the cookies!" he accused with a high pitched voice.

"You weren't eating them, so I took it as an invitation."

"And you ate half of Elliot's too!" Elliot shrugged again in response.

"Well…Elliot's too nice to refuse."

"Trish!" Austin whined.

"Dez, whatever you did, stop being an idiot," Trish deadpanned, already turning back to Ally and Mark's conversation.

"But Trish!"

"Interrupt me again and you won't see daylight for the next forty years!" Trish growled.

"Ha," Dez smirked.

Austin blew him a raspberry. Elliot laughed. And Austin, for some reason, didn't have a problem with it, like he usually did.

**School – Monday Morning**

The bell rang its tinny ring as late stragglers rushed to their seats. Ally was there, sitting next to Elliot in French class, the two nerds prepared and ready for another day of learning while everyone else practically died in their seats despite the many coffees scattered among the desks.

Madame whipped around in her swivel chair, short, bright, blood red hair flying. "Is everyone here?" she shouted over the silence. Hearing nothing but a murmur of voices, she raised her own from a shout to a scream. "IS EVERYONE HERE?" This time she heard a couple of pathetic "oui, madame"s and decided to take it – it was a Monday after all. She turned back to her computer to plug in the attendance.

Ally and Elliot stayed quiet as usual, whispering about a new movie based on a book they both read. "And it's coming out next year!" the brunette squeaked.

"Ugh, I can't wait that long!" Elliot smiled.

"I know! But at least it gives us time to read the book again."

"I own it if you need it," the green-eyed boy offered.

Ally's eyes sparkled with excitement. "Thanks so much! Do you want to read it first or…"

"I'll drop it off at Sonic Boom after soccer." Ally awkwardly hugged Elliot, leaning precariously over the aisle. "Uh, Ally…" Elliot choked out.

"Yeah?" Ally tried to get back up to face Elliot again, but found herself stuck leaning over the aisle. "Never mind, I get what you mean," Ally sighed. _I need to get over this clumsiness._

"Yeah. That, and you're choking me," he strangled out.

That startled Ally, and she automatically let go from the hold she had around Elliot's neck. Consequently, she dropped to the floor, landing on her hands, and because of that, her legs shot up, kicking the desk next to her and the girl sitting there. The girl, whose name was Maia, fell on her (now) bruised butt, scowling. Elliot's eyes bugged out of his head as Ally fell, and tried to help her back up, but poor Ally, as red as a tomato, clung onto his shirt like she was on the edge of a cliff and pulled him down with her.

Everyone was laughing hysterically, the sleepy Monday mood lifted. When Madame spun around again, ready to scold and glare, she was utterly surprised. Only Ally's thighs now were resting on her chair, while she lay with her cheek smooched up against the floor because Elliot and his upper body was right on top of her. His legs had kicked down books and another person next to him, in the same way that Maia was booted off. Maia was still fuming on the ground, and the boy who sat next to Elliot was laughing on the ground.

"YOU NOMNOMS! VHAT DO YOU SINK YOU ARE DOING?! C'est ma classe et je ne vais pas être humilié! Je pourrais entrer dans tant de mal pour vous tous! Vous, les Américains fous! Pourquoi n'ai-je jamais voulu enseigner aux adolescents américains? Très stupide! Je dois m'occuper de toi adolescents américains cornées et paresseux et c'est ce que je reçois? Oh la la!" Madame then continued with some choice French words that Ally was glad she didn't know and then proceeded to yell, "Vell, are you all just going to sit there like deers in a head-light?! Help sem up!" Everyone continued to stare. "Vhat? Do you vant me to send smoke signals too?! GET SEM UP! Dêpèchez-vous, dêpèchez-vous!"

Five hundred apologies and a million chuckles later the two criminals were detained out in the hallway. "Madam's going to yell at us," Ally sniffled.

"Yeah, maybe, but it probably won't be that bad," Elliot comforted.

"But she'll never like me again! And now I'm stuck with her for the rest of the year…and so are you too, Elliot." She looked up into his emerald eyes. "I'm sorry. I apologize for my clumsiness."

He looked down into her childlike doe eyes, and couldn't take it any longer. "Ally, stop it." Taken aback, she looked like a wounded puppy. Quickly, he said, "I mean, stop apologizing. You are way too nice for your own good," he smiled. Elliot took her hand and stood up, bringing them both up. "It wasn't your fault, so don't feel bad. You can't help your clumsiness."

"Bu – " Ally's protesting mouth was covered by Elliot's smooth hand.

They both grinned. Elliot put down his hand hesitantly, just in case Ally was about to argue again. Ally giggled. "Thanks, Elliot." She hugged him around the neck, and they just stayed like that for a few moments, just enjoying each other's presence.

**School – Last Period**

"Wow," Trish replied.

"Yeah, I know. Madame can be really unpredictable." Ally had just finished her story of first period with Trish and Austin. Not talking about her and Elliot's intimate hug, of course. She would save that bit for Trish for later.

"I can't believe she just left you guys out there, and then forgot about it. I mean, it doesn't seem like she forgets those kinds of things," Austin pointed out.

"Maybe she just wasn't in the mood to yell. Monday morning and all," Ally suggested.

"Pfft. Madame _lives_ to yell at people." Trish flipped back her black curls hanging down over her shoulders. She was sitting on the desk next to Ally, and Austin was on Ally's desk, to the left of Trish.

Ally laughed. "Oh well. Hopefully she doesn't feel like yelling tomorrow!"

"Nah, she probably won't," Austin offered. Ally looked up at him appreciatively. "She'll probably just eat you instead," he said casually, looking her straight in the eye.

Ally rolled her eyes while Trish giggled. Ally then decided to play along and put a hand to her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, well I wouldn't put it below her…I mean, it wouldn't be the first time…"

Austin, holding back a grin, said, "You should look out. I can't lose my songwriter just because a crazy teacher ate her for her own clumsiness! What would I tell the fans?" He threw his hands up in mock-exasperation.

"Oh Austin, is that all I am to you? Just another catalyst to your up and coming career?" Ally put her hand dramatically to her head and leaned on his legs next to her head so that she was looking up at him.

"Ally my _darling_, don't you ever think another thought like that again!" Here Austin flailed his arms dramatically. "It just hurts my very own _heart_ to hear words like that come out of your beautiful mouth!" Austin put his hands over his heart just to emphasize his point.

"Oh Austin!" Ally giggled. This was hilarious. How could she keep it going? And how was Austin keeping in his laugh? She could see his smile almost shining past his mouth.

"Yes, my _dearest _Ally?"

"I love you, with all my _heart _and _soul_!" Ally exclaimed emphatically, her arms shooting out. Looking into Austin's dark brown eyes, she saw a change in them, although she couldn't say exactly what. "Austin, my love, you _must_ feel the same!" she continued.

"Of _course_, my darling!" He then slid off her desk and offered his hand out. Ally ceremoniously took it, and he commenced to dance with her. Ally laughed as Austin dipped his head back dramatically. He then stole a fake flower off of the teacher's desk and popped it in his mouth, just like how a flamingo dancer would and mock flirtatiously lifted his eyebrows up and down. Ally couldn't stop laughing. "Enjoying the dance, my dear?" he asked dramatically.

"However could I not? You are such an _amazing _dancer," Ally smiled.

Austin flicked his hair back, stopping for a moment. "I know," he said simply, and continued. Ally laughed so hard, Austin couldn't help but laugh along.

By now, the few people who were staring had stopped and was completely ignoring them, the sound levels in the room all the noisier with the teacher gone to the bathroom.

Suddenly Austin spun her around and dipped her. Ally gasped, almost flailing so hard that she fell out of his arms, but held still by Austin's muscular arms and his piercing gaze. "But maybe I just have an amazing partner," he said quietly, and Ally almost didn't catch it over the rumble of their classmates' voices. They held gazes for a moment more, and then Austin looked up out of nowhere and hastily, yet gently, lifted Ally back up on her feet.

Ally stood still, dazed by what had just happened and why it was ruined so quickly. Her big eyes drifted back up to his handsome face, but only to find his eyes avoiding hers. He stepped back and bowed. She smiled faintly, and curtsied.

"Always a pleasure, miss," Austin said jokingly, but she could tell his heart wasn't in it.

"Always," Ally replied, surprised with how much that one word could mean.

**School – Last Period **

Trish saw how quickly one could be forgotten. But she didn't mind. Not that much anyway. She was much more interested in Austin and Ally's banter.

Her gaze followed Austin and Ally jokingly dance in the front of the room, mocking flamingo dancers. Austin furtively plucked a dark blue flower from the teacher's desk. Ally's melodic laughter drifted to Trish's ears.

_What about Elliot?_ she kept thinking. Ally wasn't telling the whole story about first period, she knew. But that was only because Austin was there. But what did that mean? Ally could usually talk about her boy crushes in front of Austin.

_Before she started liking him._

Austin dipped Ally gracefully while Ally flailed like a spasming squirrel on coffee. Trish intently glared at the couple staring dreamily into each other's eyes. Was Trish happy about this? It wasn't like she was doing anything to stop them. But at the same time, she was still angry at Ally and Austin.

The blonde boy lifted his head and his innocent chocolate eyes connected with Trish's. She continued to glower at the boy until he looked down and brought Ally back up. Trish hurried back to her desk to collect her things before the bell rang to end the day…and maybe so Ally wouldn't see how pathetic she was, ruining the moment and running away like that.

But if Trish wanted to end their whole thing she would have just confronted Austin about it. If Trish wanted to end Ally and Elliot's whole thing, she wouldn't have let Austin and Ally's dance commence. Trish stopped stuffing things into her bag, letting everything she had done between the two relationships for the past two weeks dawn on her. _Whose side am I even on? _she asked herself.

**Sonic Boom – After School**

Ally unlocked the front doors of the store. Her dad had gone on break, and she was supposed to take his shift for the rest of the day, until eight. Not that anyone ever came around that late on a Monday, but Ally's dad would hear none of that.

The brunette walked up to the counter and put her schoolbag on the floor. She would just do her homework while working – Mondays were never really busy.

The front door banged shut. Ally turned around, confused. She hadn't turned on the lights yet, so how would anyone know that the store was open? A black figure walked towards her, and Ally's hands gripped the counter so hard her knuckles turned white. As the figure came closer, his face was distinguishable by the dim light.

"…Mark?"

He looked haggard and tired, only wearing black basketball shorts and a white tee shirt with Nike blue shoes. His black haired was mussed up and his tan face showed signs of a sleepless night.

"Aren't you supposed to be at socc – "

He kissed her.

Right on the mouth, he just went right for it. His lips were soft and familiar, enticing almost. His scent permeated her shocked thoughts, threatening to enclose her in this kiss, but Ally would not have it. As his eyes fluttered closed, Ally's became even wider as she pushed him away.

Ally stared at her ex-boyfriend, incredulous and open-mouthed. He looked straight at her with vulnerable and gentle black eyes, her tiny hands still on his chest. Mark grabbed them, desperately, and encased them in both of his hands. "What is it?" he murmured.

She didn't have words. Was she angry? Sad? Or even worse…happy? No. No, this guy had no idea… Finally, she found her voice. "What – what was that?!" she yelled hoarsely, trying to push him away.

"What was what?"

"That! That...kiss!" Ally finally ripped her hands away, furious. Mark straightened up to his full height – six foot – and looked down at her, blank-faced. "Wh – why now?! What's _wrong_ with you!" Ally didn't realize the words coming out of her own mouth.

"I just wanted to see…"

"See _what_? I'm over you, Mark. I don't know what the _heck_ is going on, but if you thought that I would ever go back to you – "

"It wasn't that bad, Ally. We're older now. _I'm_ older now. This could work again," he pleaded, grabbing for her tiny hands again.

Ally shook her head, putting her hands out in front of her so that he couldn't get any closer. "No. No, Mark it's not that simple. You hurt me," she quietly and simply said, averting his gaze.

"And it won't happen again!" he came closer, despite her hands. They stopped him, and all he did was snag them up again. "Ally, _please_. I've changed! I'll remember every important date, I'll buy you great presents, I'll say all the right things – "

"And you won't hook up with any girls every chance you get?" she attacked. Her voice was like venom to his ears. "And that's not even all of it," Ally sighed.

"Ally…"

"No. Can you please just…just go. Scratch that – you do not get a 'please'!" Mark couldn't help but note in his head how cute she was, like taking away manners was such a BA thing to do. To make her point, she stomped down her foot and pointed to the doors (which only made her look cuter because of her small stature). "Go!"

Mark slouched and looked down. Ally's big chocolate eyes softened. It was just that he was such a big guy, and to see him so vulnerable and hurt, and all because of her too. "Mark, _please_."

"But…just one more. Like a goodbye, but not," he suggested.

"Um…one more wh – "

Ally was cut off as Mark went right in again. She was surprised, and was about to push him away again, but then she thought of his hurt eyes, his pained voice, his vulnerability, and how much she heard of him changing after they broke up in school. Because it was true. He had changed. Come to think of it, he never got another girl so far as anyone heard in school. And he did have his sweet moments.

This all went through her mind in a long millisecond of time. It was just goodbye, right? The brunette kissed him back, memories of the good times in their last relationship flashing by as the couple started to make-out. Cheering Mark on with Trish during the big soccer game last year. Mark teaching her how to play, his big, warm hands around her waist. Ally playing guitar for him on his birthday, each laughing at how badly he sang. Swinging hands in the park, eating water ice. The park. Was there rain? Water ice…or ice cream? Mysterious trees? A moment of longing so intense, a guitar strung around the both of them, a song being played…

A familiar face with mischievous, sparkling brown eyes shot into Ally's dazed head. He had a goofy smile on, like always. And his soft, blonde hair was being caressed by a gentle breeze as he strummed a playful melody on his acoustic.

Ally pushed Mark away without a thought, except only that it didn't feel right. Her lips felt smushed and tired after their long kiss, and her arms were cramped from laying her delicate hands on his shoulders. Their kisses didn't leave butterflies in her stomach anymore. It only left her awkward and empty, like it had to take something out of her.

Mark's chest heaved a huge exhale. "So I guess that's goodbye then."

"I guess so," Ally replied tartly, still dazed from her vision.

"But we can still be friends right?"

The brunette looked incredulously into Mark's dark eyes, and still found vulnerability in them. _He truly wants to be friends_ she thought. Ally reminisced back to the times when they actually were friends. Even if that time was just a short while, it _was_ really nice. _Maybe breakups just need time, and now time is up._ "Yes. Yes, we can."

**Sonic Boom – After School**

Austin stood speechless outside Sonic Boom, staring through the glass doors at the couple locked in a deep kiss.

He left as if no one had ever been there, tortured, watching as the cute, tiny, frustrating, and most remarkable girl he had ever met was making out with the one person he hated.

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**aww! poor Austin! im sorry for any Auslly fans i just killed! but dont worry...;)...**

**and Elliot fans...i guess i gotsa bump up the Elliot charm. i have it all mapped out so i know how everythings going to go down, its just i have to torture all of you first! youll all be satisfied (i hope)!**

**PLEEEEASE REVIEEEEWWW!**


	13. Kiera?

**im so sorry i havent updated! its just...im never in the mood. i got obsessed with Castle (tv show) and then hanging out, and then reading the Infernal Devices, and the shore, and New York, and...just stuff. so. i will try to update more, and probably a new chapter soon, cause this is really short...but if youre reading this, then thanks for still sticking around :) **

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**Austin's Bedroom**

"And I was just going over there to ask her out," Austin scoffed.

"Oh, come on, dude. You and me both know that you were never gonna get the guts to ask her right there and then," Dez replied between bites of his lo mein. Dez ordered a chockful of pancakes and Chinese food as soon as he heard his best friend's depressed voice on the phone and rushed to Austin's house as fast as was possible. Seeing Austin's look, he added, "Well, it's true. I can imagine it now – it'll be just like _Winter's Warmest Heart_, or like any other classic love story. Like when Wilma and Henry had been friends since childhood and not until Wilma's cryin' does Henry kiss her. See, he had been hiding his feelings for so long, just the sight of his best friend crying just let it all out. Or when in _The Final Rose_ Dean kisses Darla after they have their worst fight yet. Or in _Full of Love_ when Garret's last family member dies and Scarlet dives in to kiss h – "

"I got it. So?"

"Well, I think that's how it will be with you and Ally. You guys will get in a heated argument, or something, and BAM!" Dez shouted suddenly. Austin jumped, just a little. "Intense kiss," Dez finished.

"Uh-huh…"

"Don't believe me? Let's put a bet on it: you have to pants yourself in the middle of the mall if it does happen," the redhead wagered.

The rock star groaned and flopped onto his bed. Couldn't his best friend be serious? Just once? "Whatever, Dez," Austin mumbled into his pillow.

**Trish's Bedroom**

"And that's when I called my Dad and asked to get off early, and sleep over at your house…oh, by the way – you don't mind right?" Ally quickly asked. "And your parents…I didn't even ask!"

"Ally, you're practically family," Trish smiled. "And you're their most well-behaved child. Wait – scratch that – you're their _only_ well-behaved child."

Ally laughed. "I'm touched, but I'm afraid there isn't any competition," she smirked.

Trish mockingly gasped in fake distress. "I'm hurt!" Grabbing her kung pow chicken, she shrugged. "Besides, I could behave if I wanted to."

Ally stared at her best friend in mock-disbelief. Trish looked up and took it seriously. "Okay, fine, it would be hard. Maybe impossible," she said truthfully, stuffing a piece of chicken in her mouth.

"Trish, you could be better well-behaved than me without breaking a sweat," Ally smiled with utmost confidence.

"Oh, Ally. You know that only happens when mama needs some cash," Trish chuckled.

Ally rolled her eyes and dug into her fried rice.

**Austin's Bedroom**

"You know, I miss when you could tell Ally about your love life," Dez sighed.

"Throw me a fortune cookie," Austin said, ignoring him.

Dez tossed him one. "Hey, maybe your fortune can tell you what to do," he joked.

Austin cracked it open and read his fortune. "Look beside you and your best friend will be there."

"Well, it's not _wrong_. Here, open the other one," Dez said, eagerly tossing him the last one.

"Dez." The cookie hit Austin's nose, but he ignored it. The lanky redhead stifled a laugh. "_Dez_. We will _not _go around, believing in fortune cookies, okay?" He looked blankly at him. "_Okay_?" Austin repeated. Dez nodded slowly.

Austin opened the plastic and grabbed the cookie. Cracking it open, he looked at his fortune. "Huh."

"What? Whatisit?" Dez leaned forward.

"Go for it."

"Go for what?"

"Just…_it_. See?" Austin held out the little rectangle of paper out to Dez. Dez got up and took it.

He scrutinized the paper for what felt like forever. Finally, Austin asked, "What?"

His goofy friend looked him straight in the eye, seriousness written all over his face, jokes aside. "We need more fortune cookies."

**Trish's Bedroom**

"Hey! I gotta get some extra cash _some_ way. Or do you want me to rob the nice citizens of Miami?"

"You aweddy moo. You wob mem ov meir matienp!" Ally joked through the fried rice and vegetables swimming in her mouth. Trish looked at her funny. Ally chewed a little longer, all the while holding up one finger. She swallowed. "I said, 'You already do. You rob them of their patience!'"

"Congratulations, Ally. Your one good comeback and you somehow managed to make it cute."

"Darn it!"

Trish laughed. "So, how much more drama do you think your life can throw at you some more?"

"I don't do it on purpose, you know. It just happens," Ally said sadly, pulling up her legs to hug.

"I know. But you handle stuff like this really good."

"Well," Ally corrected automatically.

Trish gave her a look. "Whatever. But you are one of the most nondramatic people I know. Things just…_happen_ to you. For no apparent reason," the short girl added, spreading out her hands.

Ally collapsed onto Trish's bed so she was lying down. Trish copied her. "So the world's out to get me?"

Ally's best friend turned her head to look at her. "Pretty much, yeah."

**Austin's Bedroom**

"Dez, remember what I said? About how stupid fortune cookies are?"

Dez, not seeming to hear him, felt for his cell phone and took it out.

"Dez, are you listening to me?"

He started dialing Chee's.

"I'm serious, dude! This is bad for you!"

He then backspaced everything he had dialed, because Chee's was on speed dial. _Duh._

"Dez! Stop it!"

"Hello? Hey Chee. I was ju – oof!"

Austin tackled him. He rolled off of him and batted away his cell phone. Dez looked dazed. "Hey, you all right, man?"

"Yeah. Thanks for that."

"Anytime."

The two boys stared up at the white ceiling hanging up above them.

**Trish's Bedroom**

"Hey, you girls all right in here?" Mrs. Della Rosa asked, just popping in.

"Mom! What'd I say about knocking?!" Trish yelled, getting up. Ally sat up too.

"Whoops. Sorry, honey," her mother said, sounding very unapologetic. "Are you hungry, Ally? Do you need some blankets?"

"Oh, no I'm fine, Mrs. Della Rosa. But thank you! And thanks again for letting me st – "

"Ally, honey, it's fine – really! You need to learn: I would rather have you here than those other ones," she said, lowering her voice and putting a hand to the side of her mouth, as if to shield the rest of the room from hearing her. Ally giggled, making the older Latina smile.

"Mom. Right here," Trish, one of "those other ones" deadpanned.

"Whoops," she smiled. And then she was gone.

"I'm starting to think 'whoops' doesn't really mean whoops," Ally thought out loud.

"Yeah," Trish muttered, "me too." And they both collapsed onto bed again.

**Austin's Bedroom**

"You promise you're gonna listen to me?"

"I already pinkie promised! What else do you want me to do?"

Austin gave his best friend a weary look and started. "I figured out what I'm going to do on the way over from the mall to here."

"What's that?"

"I'm gonna apologize to Keira and ask for her back."

**Trish's Bedroom**

Ally turned to Trish so that she was lying on her side. "What do you think about Mark?"

"He's a lying weasel that just wants to – "

"_Trish_."

"Without bias?!" Ally gave her a look. "From me?!" Ally's eyes were even. "That's almost impossible!"

"Just delve into your calmer, _logical_, character analysis side."

"Fine," the spicy girl sighed. "Well…he has flaws." Ally fake-coughed. "Okay, okay. But I think he was actually sincere about everything. Judging from your narration," she added. "You could've just been imagining things that you wanted to see in him. Which raises the question: do you still like him?"

Ally opened her mouth to answer, but was blocked off by the mess of black curls beside her. "Which would mean that you like three boys at the same time. Consequently, you can't like them all the same. One of them, at least, would have to be even a tiny bit insubstantial compared to the other two. Which could be any of them, taking Austin out of the question."

Before Ally could ask why, Trish just kept blowing through. "And that would leave the two that you actually have history with. Does that mean that you only like them because of your past infatuations with them, triggering feelings that were for them when they were different than they are now? Which means that you don't actually like them like you think you do. So buh-bye to Mark. There you go – you don't actually like him.

"Huh?"

"Think about it – "

"No. I know I do not like Mark! And I said so too. Why'd you have to prove it? And for curiosity's sake…why not Elliot?"

"Because usually people don't really know how they feel. They either think that they do, or they lie to themselves, consciously or unconsciously. And it can't be Elliot because even though he _is_ different, he _still_ is Elliot, no new person there. He's pretty much the same. And if anything, if you didn't like him before, you would definitely like him now. I mean, who can't be attracted to _that_?"

"Okay. Then why did you count Austin out when you were comparing the three?"

"Cause I know you like him a lot."

Ally blushed. "What about Elliot?"

"I'd have to see you two together more. What's kind of frustrating is the abnormally of all of these personalities. You see, you and Elliot have alike personalities, but not too alike, so you guys would be a great couple. Nothing wrong there. Then there's the problem – Austin. You and him are – "

"You and _he_," Ally corrected.

"Gonna keep interrupting me?"

"I only did it – "

"See! There you go again. Where was I? Right. You and Austin? Opposites. You fight and don't always understand each other…but you guys work. Somehow. I guess it's that opposites attract kinda thing. But if you both didn't share one great love – music – then you probably would've regarded him as…a bad boy, in a way. You know, without knowing him, and compared to Elliot."

"I see what you're saying, but still. Trying to imagine Austin as a bad boy is hard to imagine. Yeah, he breaks things…lots of things, and likes to break the rules, and tends to – ," Ally cut herself off. "I see your point," she said sheepishly.

**Austin's Bedroom**

"What? Ally's perfect for you!" Dez cried, standing up.

"But Dez!" Austin pleaded from the blue carpet of his room.

"Don't 'but Dez' me!" the redhead harrumphed. He turned away dramatically.

"Dez, Ally obviously has none of the feelings I have for her. I might as well try to get over it," the blond boy reasoned.

"You don't know thaaat!"

"Dez, she kissed her lying, cheating ex-boyfriend rather than saying she has feelings for me. I mean, if she had any feelings for me, she would have said it by now." Austin furrowed his brows and tried to believe it.

"Cough, cough, Mr. Hypocrite. What about you?" Dez implored, looking into his best friend's face.

This time Austin turned away. "Whatever, Dez. She doesn't like me and that's that. I don't know what you want me to do."

"But you and Ally are meant for each other!"

"Dez, this isn't one of your romance movies," Austin sighed, staring up at the ceiling of his room. His rough guitar hands were folded under his head. His face was downcast and vulnerable and horrible. Austin didn't look like himself at all, and that was scaring his red-headed best friend. "I…I really didn't know how much I like Ally until I saw her making out with…" Austin's face contorted into an ugly scowl, "well, _him_." He sighed. "And I realized, well, I like her more than I thought. A lot more." His face slowly changed into a pained countenance. "So, if I still want to be friends with Ally – and of course I do – and if we're still gonna be partners, then I have to get over her in order to still be around her. And plus, me and Kiera have so much more in common. We're a much better match. I mean, Kiera's much better for me than Ally."

Dez looked a long time at the wounded boy on the floor. "Well, then. Guess you're also gonna hafta call Kiera," he said, handing him his phone.

The rest of the night before they went to sleep, Austin kept talking about how Kiera could light up a room, how she and Austin were so alike. How she was a much better choice than Ally. But as Dez listened to all his rambling, he couldn't help but feel like Austin wasn't only trying to convince Dez, but himself.

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**ooooooooohhhh schnap! haha well ill add somethin soon! love you guys! :) ...and just sayin, its beautiful outside...so go outside. or maybe try to go one day without going on the internet at least. just somethin to think about...**

**but thanks for reading my story and did you guys read the spoilers for the season finale of austin and ally?! hehehe im excited!**


	14. BONK

**this is the next chapter. hmm. so ive been reading this really good Austin and Ally fanfic called This One's For Keeps by from-Sabrina (which is really good and i like it and how she built up everything its just so cute and awesome and her writings just hilarious), and so im getting confused with her story and mine caused i havent written in a long time...well i have but not fanfiction just an original story. so im not sure whether - wait no. Austin and Ally have come to terms with their feelings, right? ugh. youd think id know, right? well anyway since i dont really know where theyre at right now in my story, you might not like this chapter? i dunno. meh. i dont really like it. well uh...i hope you like it, though! so here it is!**

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**Mini's – Tuesday after school**

Her head flew up. "Be your girlfriend? I don't know Austin," the beautiful, confused girl said hesitantly.

Austin had called Kiera last night and apologized, asking her to meet at Mini's the next day after school.

**Flashback**

_"Yeah, I know, Kiera, and I'm so sorry about the way I've been acting, it's just," the boy sighed over the phone and continued, "it's been really hard lately."_

_"_Hard_? Is that all you have to say?" Kiera said vehemently. She smiled across the room at her other two friends listening in on the call because she had put it on speaker. They smiled back. Kiera had really no problem with meeting Austin the next day, but was it really so bad that she wanted revenge after all those missed calls, all those lame excuses, all those times when he just flat out ignored a text? Kiera knew he would come running back, and she swore that when he did, he would have to work for it._

_"No, Kiera. That's not all," Austin said, gaining confidence for what he was about to say next. "And that's why I want to meet you tomorrow at Mini's, around three?" She and her friends could hear the desperation in his voice. Her friends giggled._

_Pressing the phone to her shoulder she said with a smile, "Shh! I don't want him to hear you!" Returning back to her call she changed back to her serious tone. "Fine."_

_"Great, Kiera! Thanks! I really appreciate this," he said, full of sincerity and gratitude._

_Kiera's stomach did a tiny flip. _Darn him_, she thought. "Goodbye, Austin," was all she could think of to say as she hung up._

_"Great job, girl," Gianni congratulated Kiera._

_"Yeah – that was _hilarious_!" Lilly laughed. "Stupid rock stars."_

_"Yeah, I know!" Clarissa replied. "I dated one a few months ago…"_

_Kiera laughed and listened along as she was supposed to, but she wasn't into it. She kept thinking about what she had agreed to do tomorrow. Austin wasn't the typical rock star, and Kiera knew the sound of distress when she heard it. Why did he have to be so vulnerable and sweet and cute and funny…_Ugh! It's like hitting a puppy_, she thought miserably. How was she even going to face him tomorrow, knowing she still had some feelings for him, no matter how reluctant they were?_

**End Flashback**

Notice her surprise when he said he wanted her back. And as his _girlfriend_, no less. What was going on?

"I'm sorry it took me so long to figure it out, but _now_ I know how I feel."

_Or what you think you feel_. She took on her no-little-Joey-eating-glue-is-bad-for-you tone. "Yeah. Tomorrow you could decide you want to be with Ally." She looked him square in the eye. "You change your mind a lot."

The waiter came over to drop off their meal. Austin's face crumpled into that cute look he always gave when denying something he knew to be true, whether he knew it consciously or unconsciously. "No I don't." He looked down at what the waiter brought and lifted his plate back to him. "Can I get the turkey burger instead?"

Kiera's head bobbed up immediately, plastered with _the look_. He swiveled his head back to her with big, brown, innocent eyes and cringing, said, "You know what – this will be fine." He hunched over his food, embarrassed.

Kiera couldn't help but smile. _Puppydogpuppydogpuppydog_, she thought. Oh well. Kiera couldn't help but be nice. It was in her nature. "Can you blame me for having doubts?"

He looked up right away, with disappointment written in his eyes. "So you're saying no?"

She moved a stray strand of hair from her face, looking down. Kiera did an inward sigh. _Darn you, Austin Moon_, she thought with a what-can-you-do? attitude. Austin Moon was too much of a puppy to ever really get mad at him. She thought of all the things they had in common, how easy it was to be with him, rather than the hustle and bustle of her usual life. "I didn't say that," she vaguely smiled. _Darn you, Kiera Starr_.

He looked so hopeful. Flashing a disbelieving crooked grin, the blond haired boy asked, "So it's a yes?!"

_Whoa, whoa, whoa there. _"I…didn't say that either," she said right away, looking sorry as soon as the words registered her eating companion's ears.

Austin was fidgeting. He turned very solemn. "Look, Kiera. I wanna be with you. If you don't wanna be with me, I get it. Just let me know." He turned his eyebrows up, just like whenever he spoke seriously.

Kiera tore her gaze away, inhaled a bunch of air, and took a sip of her miniature soda. She felt an intense gaze and looked up. "You mean right now?" He looked back at her with a steadfast gaze. "I need time to think about it."

His soft lips formed an O shape. "Right," his voice cracked. "Heh, got it," he said awkwardly.

Kiera picked up her other savory miniature food and lifted it to her hungry – "How about now?" Austin blurted.

_The look_.

"Right."

**Sonic Boom – After School**

"He didn't act weird at all?"

Ally sighed. "It's like whenever we're just in the same hallway he runs away. And if we actually do make eye contact, then I see this hopefulness in his eyes, but the moment it's there, he turns away, as if he's embarrassed."

"Well, I would be too, after having that emotional breakdown with you yesterday," Trish reasoned. "Being friends will take some time. And once Mark gets over himself, I think that it'll work."

Ally smiled at her friend. It was encouraging, yet demeaning. _That's my Trish._ "Thanks, Trish."

"No problem. Slow day?" Trish asked, looking around. There was really no one there.

"Yup. But now I have time for my new book: _Clockwork Angel_." The brunette took out a hardcover brick, excuse me, _book _and nearly jumped with joy.

"But what about me?"

"You," Ally said, looking at the digital clock underneath the counter, "need to get to work in five minutes."

"Ugh. I would rather you tell me about that brick in your hand," Trish joked, gesturing to Ally's book.

Ally scrutinized the book for the first time, taking in the miles of pages and words it encompassed. "Hmm." The brunette looked up at Trish. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Trish laughed. After a couple minutes she glanced back at Ally and her blank face. "Oh, you were _serious_?! Look at that thing! You could kill somebody with that!" the Latina exclaimed, gesturing to the book.

Ally hugged her book and furrowed her brows at Trish while she loudly whispered, "Don't worry, I'm sure she didn't mean it…"

Trish rolled her eyes, grabbed the book, and flung it out the door. Unfortunately, Dez was just walking in, and the brick hit him right in the kisser. He was knocked out.

Ally gasped, her hand covering her mouth. Trish looked back, saw Dez, and said nonchalantly, "See?" Devilish glee painting her countenance, she added, "Hey, you going back to the library anytime soon?"

* * *

"OHMYGOSHTRISH! YOU NOT ONLY THREW MY BOOK, BUT YOU ALSO KILLED POOR DEZ!"

Austin bolted to Sonic Boom, hearing the panic in his partner's voice. He couldn't really make out what she was saying, but she sounded frantic, and that was enough for him.

He had just finished lunch with Kiera, which was really awkward after he got out what he had to say, so they both ate quickly and left with hasty goodbyes. Austin was strolling over to Sonic Boom to ask Ally about the new song, which was already three whole weeks late, no thanks to Elliot, when he heard her.

"What? What is it?!" he burst in, although not too much, or else he would have stepped on his best frie – what?! "What is Dez…!"

Ally bit her lip. She was fanning Dez with a music sheet. "Trish hit him!" She looked up accusingly at the backroom of the store. "And with my new book, too!" She sighed. Austin couldn't help but notice how cute she was when she was frustrated. Her eyebrows would knit together, her nosed scrunched up, and her lips would – _Stop it!_ Austin mentally slapped himself. Ally didn't notice as she was fussing over Dez.

She stopped and got up. "Actually, since you're here, could you help me bring Dez to the couches over there?" she asked, pointing with her thumb toward the cute hangout cubby in the store. Austin nodded, picking up Dez by the arms. Ally brought him over by picking up his feet. Once they got to the cubby, they swung him into the couch, consequently banging his head on the wall.

Austin and Ally winced.

"Trish!" Ally yelled. "How long does it TAKE TO GET ICE?!" She was becoming frantic now.

"Ally," Austin soothed, and as Ally leaned into his shoulder, he rubbed her arm gently. They both tried to ignore the tingling they both felt from skin on skin.

Was it weird that Ally fit snugly into him…?

Was it weird that she fit perfectly into Austin…?

Was it weird that Dez was passed out and was currently forming a colorful bruise on his forehead…?

"Uh, I…um…Dez…and uh…" Ally started.

Austin blushed. "Right." He chuckled nervously.

But for some reason, no one moved.

_It's kinda sorta nice…_ Ally admitted.

_…in a totally platonic way… _Austin caught himself.

_…because of Elliot,_ Ally thought with an internal sigh.

_…because of Kiera,_ Austin thought with a mental wince.

They separated.

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**see why i dont like this chapter? it just...i dont like ending it there but aeljnfavioenfdjifijaefsijk whoa what just happened? i pressed on all my keys and the screen got brighter and there was this box...0.o. huh. but aaanyway i think ill be updating more just cause school is coming up and my procrastination senses are tingling cause i know i wont update much cause of school...or maybe i will. i write when i procrastinate...eh. good for you, bad for me...**

**well anyway too much rambling and stuuuuff. well ima write more! bye and God loves you! :D stay happy and safe, ok? :)**


	15. A Long Overdue Phone Call

im **annoyed right nooooow! bolds not workin for my 'im' back there in case you were wonderin bout that. but i went to submit this document, and i was just done writing an awesome authors note and now its just...its GONE.**

**meh. well thank you sucky internet connection. but anyway my authors note consisted of this: im tired. i dont wanna go to sleep cause i wanna write. its aroudn one in the morning. and i thanked PrincessVenture for her lovely review and now i cant stop writing cause of it cause it makes me all warm and happy inside! ok, not so annoyed anymore. **

**but uhh it also said that this is just fluff right here (and isnt it awesome im using fanfiction slang! whoo!(kinda new here))**

**aaaand this is a chapter! yeah! read! please!**

* * *

"What do you remember?" Ally asked eagerly. All three friends were crowded around the redhead. Ally, for some reason, blamed everything on herself, and was determined to nurse Dez back to health. Trish…well she did feel a little bad. A little! And that was all she was willing to admit. Austin was worried, sure? This had happened tons of times to Dez before. They had been friends about as long as Ally and Trish. He had a _hard_ head. He just found it funny how Ally and Trish (although she would never admit it) looked so worried.

Dez finally woke up, really slowly, as Austin noted it. He liked all the attention. Austin smirked. Dez would be in paradise for the next couple of days until Ally realized that he was just faking being hurt.

It was ridiculously adorable at how gullible and caring Ally was.

Mental slap. _KIERA! You have Kiera! It's like there are no other girls in the world for you besides Ally! _Slap, slap!

Austin snapped back to attention. How could he think something as scary as that? No other girls but Ally? That was…

SLAP.

Maybe it was being in the same room as her? That intoxicating Ally smell…her tantalizing voice…since when did Ally's voice become _tantalizing?_ Since when did he know the _word_ tantalizing? "I…I, uh, have to go uh…tantalize my…" he looked down. "…shoes?" The blonde walked out the door, dazed.

He said his excuse so quietly they barely paid him attention, Trish writing it off as weird, typical Austin, and Dez didn't even hear him. But Ally paid attention. Her brows knit together in anxiety. She was just about to run after him when she heard Dez say, "_Ally's_ book?" Trish was explaining all that had happened before he went down.

Guilt took over and Ally forced her body to cooperate as she twisted her neck back to the situation at hand, instead of doing what she wanted to do, and that was to run back to Austin and hug him until all his worries went away.

**Austin's House – 4:45 pm**

_…so if it's a direct proportion, the formula is m= – _RING RING.

Ugh. He was on a role too. RING RING. It was his home phone. RING RING. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" he shouted to the walls. He finally got to the phone, and without looking at the caller ID, answered. "Hello?" he asked irritably.

"Austin?" He usually wasn't irritable. Except these days. These days it seemed like he was always irritable. Ever since Elliot came. _Huh._

"Ally?" That pulled her out of her thoughts. It's like he couldn't believe that she called. Was she always that preoccupied nowadays? Thinking about it, she really only hung out with Austin once, just her and him once in three whole weeks. _What?!_ That realization just made this call even more important.

"Were you in the middle of som – math homework?" she guessed.

Austin couldn't help but smile. "How'd you know?"

He could hear her grinning. "I know you," she mused. She looked up contemplatively at the blank ceiling, picturing her best friend. She was taking a break from work in the practice room, lying down in a bean bag chair. "You aaaare…smiling!"

Austin flopped onto his bed. "Two can play at this game – you're smiling too."

"How did _you_ know?"

"I guess I just know you, Dawson," Austin said teasingly.

"You stole my words!" she cried indignantly.

Austin chuckled. "Your eyebrows are furrowed, your nose is crinkled, and you're as of now trying not to smile, but you are failing. Epicly." He stared up at his blank ceiling, picturing her covering her mouth.

On the other end, Ally hastily covered her mouth, so Austin couldn't see her grin. She put down her hand just as quickly, telling herself that Austin wasn't _actually _there.

"I – um, well – "

"Uh-huh."

"It's just – well, I – "

"Mm-hmm."

"Well right now you're lying on your bed and you're resting your arm on your head!" she blurted out to stop her embarrassing stutters.

Austin took a double take. Well, there, there was his arm…and huh, he was on his bed… "How?" he asked incredulously.

"We know each other too well."

"We're just perfect for each other!" Austin laughed.

"Yeah." Ally blushed. Why was she getting flustered? People mistook them as a couple all the time and they joked about it from time to time. Why was she so…ugh. Annoying how that boy could do this to her. "Um…" _I'm making this awkward. Ally! Change the subject!_

"Ally?" Austin scratched the back of his neck. That was probably the wrong thing to say. Ever since Elliot came here, everything was just weird between Austin and Ally! Oh, but Mark was _so_ much worse. Compared to him, Elliot wasn't much of a bad guy…

"Yeah, sorry." Ally exhaled. "So anyway, the reason I called – "

"Was to say hi to the most awesome guy you know?"

Ally rolled her e –

"I can hear you rolling your eyes."

"Do you have to interrupt _everything_ I say? Er, do? Er, Austin! Why am I even contemplating this?"

"I need to boop your nose right now," he smiled.

"Don't boop my nose," Ally deadpanned.

"Why nooot?" he whined.

"Because first of all – Austin! You get me so off topic!"

"Just let loose once in a while," he grinned. He couldn't picture it, but the thought of his Ally 'letting loose' was a funny idea.

"Pssh. I am plenty loose."

"Yeah?" He saw her nodding. "Prove it," he dared.

"Prove it?" she said a little shaky.

_Oh this is fun._ "Yup." He emphasized the p, popping it. "I said prove it."

"Pssssh. I am way too loose that you just wouldn't be able to handle it…?"

He bit his lip to bite back the chuckles that were itching to escape. "Oh Ally."

"What?" She was indignant now.

"Oh, Ally, Ally, Ally."

He could hear her crossing her arms. "Care to say something, Austin?"

"You just…you don't have swag."

"I – I, _I_ _have_ swag."

"Really? Cause I never see it."

"Well it's in there. Somewhere. Just…deep inside me…"

"Oh, really? Along with all the horrible dance moves and the clumsiness?"

"Well things just tend to move where my feet are!"

"Right, right. Those inanimate objects just see you coming and walk over _just_ to get in your path."

"Exactly!"

"And air too, right?"

"Exac – hey! You're not being completely fair. Air is a dangerous thing. Many a time I have fallen into a mop bucket because of it. I swear that air and mop buckets have teamed up and are out to get me," she whispered into the phone conspiratorially.

Austin couldn't help it. "Hey! Stop laughing," Ally chuckled. "I…mean…it!" she gasped. Hearing Austin laugh made her laugh, and hearing Ally laugh made him laugh. They were hysterically laughing until a few minutes passed by.

His voice full of mirth, his curiosity won over, and he asked, "So uh, what was it you wanted to tell me, Alls?"

"I don't know if I should tell you anymore!" she said indignantly. Oh, she was going to make him work for it.

"Come _on…_" he groaned. "I'm curious!"

"You know, I'm surprised you even remembered I said something about that," she wondered aloud.

"I remember everything you tell me," he said simply.

"Middle na – "

"Marie." He examined his shirt.

"Best girl si – "

"Hayley Williams." It needed a wash.

"Cutest couple sin – "

"Gavin Degraw and Colbie Callait." Yeah, it definitely needed a wash.

"How about where my favorite bench is?" _I got him_.

"The one in the park where he sat the last time we hung out." But he had to get up. Closet…so far…away…

She was breathless. "Snack?"

"Go-gurt." Maybe the shirt wasn't even that dirty…

"Food?"

He stopped pondering about his shirt. "Really, Ally?"

"Heh. I guess everyone knows that one. Uh, what about…the store I bought my songboo – "

"You didn't. But you got it from Ms. Celia's Antiques. You and Ms. Celia hit it off. I mean, no surprise. You're too cute not to. And Ally in kiddie form? No one could resist that."

She smiled softly.

"So she gave you a leather journal. She showed you that she had one just like it, and she wrote poems and her personal thoughts in there, which inspired you to do what she did, except you wrote songs too."

"She was a nice lady."

"The baking cookies kind?"

"Yeah," she said dreamily, reminiscing. If only Ms. Celia could see her now.

"Then definitely a nice lady," he joked gently. Ally was at that place where some jokes were accepted, but it was still a sensitive subject. Austin danced around it, and Ally noticed it gratefully. He always knew what she needed.

She giggled. "You and your food."

"You and your pickles."

"Touché."

"You know what I've always wondered?"

"What?"

"What touché really means."

"Hmm." She pondered it. "Well, Austin, there is a thing called the internet."

"Oh. I always forget about that," he said sheepishly.

She smirked. "Hey!" Austin sat up.

"What? I didn't do anything," the brunette smiled.

"You smirked! Really smugly!" he cried.

"I have no idea what _you're_ talking about," Ally said innocently.

"My butt you don't."

She laughed. "Think what you want, Austin."

"No. I know you did."

"Whatever," she said airily.

"You did!"

"Let it go."

"I won't!"

She snickered at his stubbornness.

"Stop laughing!"

"Bye, Austin."

"Hey!"

"Hmm?"

"This isn't over!"

"Bye!"

"No! Wai – " BEEP.

Oh, right. She called Austin for a reason. _Whoops_. Eh. She'd call him back in five minutes, leaving him to try to figure out all the possibilities as to why she called him. _Hehehe, _she thought mischievously.

She glanced at the clock, wondering if it had been five minutes yet. Her eyes widened. That phone call took up all of her fifteen minute break and then some. And Trish was manning the counter! She only thought she'd be five minutes, tops. _But twenty?!_ Knowing Trish…

She stumbled and tripped on her way out of the room, picked herself up, and ran downstairs.

* * *

**yay! now theyre fine! whoo! **

**k. i also had wonderful stuff here that got erased too. *humph***

**but i think it said to review! please! cause i really love reviews! at this point, i dont really care if you hate my writing, just review! any ideas, thoughts, predictions, criticisms on this story i would really appreciate :)**

**and i also wrote about summer. yes. so um i noticed that its nearing the end of summer and im just sayin as some advice to make the most of it. im not saying go out and go cliff diving or anything, but just...you know, im saying that we all should make the most of it, if we were to look back on it, reminisce and smile about it. whether you spent the rest of summer lying down alone in the grass under the shade of a tree pondering how the sun manages to tilt its rays just right, so that the leaves sparkled with just enough glimmer. whether you spent the rest of summer laughing and dancing with your friends late into the night, savoring every joke, every single note of music. whether you spent the rest of the summer with that one person who could always turn that frown upside down, slurping down ice cream and just hangin out. whether you spent the rest of the summer partying or chilling, just remember to make it something that youll smile to when you look back on it. dont regret spending the rest of it watching boring reruns by yourself inside!( unless you actually like doing that, then im sorry!) but you get my point? **

**well im done rambling. thanks for reading my story and please review!**


	16. Music and more Cookies

**so im sleeepy**

**and i reread this. and it it ****_sucks. _****thanks for reading this. i mean now i think its way better. my writing improved. but. oy. in the beginning it was just painful reading that. so thanks for sticking it out. i think i may edit this story. **

**and also, it has so many holes! i never elaborated on why that forest in the park was so special, what happened to Elliots mom, and so much more! im such i bad writer! i pretty much forgot all about it. ive strayed away from this story so long that i have no idea what Ally and Trish feel, or really what Austins going through with all his confusedness...ugh.**

**im sorry. but i shall fix this! OK, im done ranting. well, here it is!**

* * *

**Sonic Boom – 5:10**

"But he was a potential customer!" Ally cried out in exasperation.

"He was – "

"Hey, Ally?" Dez yelled, cutting off Trish. The Latina glared so intensely at the redhead, Ally was surprised he didn't combust. He was still lying on the couch that she and Austin had put him on. _Austin._ She almost forgot.

"Yeah, what is it, Dez?" Ally asked as she took out her phone to call him. _Seven new texts?_

**AAAAAAAAALLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY TELL ME WHY YOU CALLLLLEEEEEEEDDDDD**

She smirked.

**AAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYY YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY**

She tried to hide her grin.

**ALLY TEEEEEEEEEELL MEEEEEEEE**

She smiled.

**I WILL BLOW UP YOUR PHONE**

She bit her lip.

**AAAAALLLLYYYYYYY I WILL COME OVER THERE RIGHT NOW AND BOOP YOUR NOSE**

She laughed.

**ok. but you asked for it.**

_Wha?_

Austin burst in, flashing a cheeky smile. "BOOM!" he yelled, doing a signature dance move and posing with his arms crossed at the end.

Ally smiled back and laughed. Trish grinned and rolled her eyes at the two idiots staring and smiling at each other. _Oh geez._ She didn't know whether to be frustrated or to be happy for them.

"Ahem. Injured man. Over here," Dez called. That broke the moment.

"Oh. Sorry, Dez!" Ally rushed over to the cubby area while Austin shook his head and leaned against the counter beside Trish.

"He guilt-tripping her?" Austin asked.

"…and a glass of water," the redhead finished. The diligent girl beside him nodded. "Oh, and three ice cubes exactly, with a little tropical umbrella – you know how I like it."

"Does that answer your question?" Trish replied with a smirk.

Austin tilted his head, observing his two best friends. "Poor Ally…" Austin said.

Black curls beat against his chest as Trish snapped her head back to look up at him. "What? Taking advantage of Ally by guilt-tripping her and making her do whatever he wants?"

"Uh, _duh_."

"Come on, Austin. It's not like we all haven't done it before." Seeing his blank face, she rolled her eyes. "It's just like Dez taking advantage of my job obtaining skills to film in that carnival for your music video. Or Ally tricking you at that same carnival to win her that huge stuffed bear by taking advantage of your competitive side." She shrugged.

Austin looked back at Trish. "Wait – what?"

"Nothin'." Before Austin could pry any more, Ally called for Trish's help and she disappeared.

He sighed. The blonde walked up to his best friend and sat down on the table adjacent to him. "You're really not all that hurt, are you?"

Dez sat up. "Pfft. No. But Ally nursing you is like being on cloud nine." Austin stared blankly at him, both eyebrows up. "I mean it, man! She'll get you anything you want!" Gesturing to the table Austin was sitting on, he said, "Ally got me my favorite movie _and_ my favorite chips _and_ she tucked me in with all these fuzzy blankets and all these adorable stuff animals!"

Austin looked impressed. "That _is_ pretty awesome."

"Yeah. She's going to read me a story next while I sip some chocolate milk out of one of those cool swirly straws!" Dez said excitedly.

"Pssh. What are you? Five?" he replied, envy evident in his tone. Austin crossed his arms. "I want stuffed animals and chocolate milk," he huffed.

"You _what_?" Trish asked, overhearing part of the conversation as she and Ally walked back from the practice room with all of Dez's goodies.

"Nothing," he quickly said, embarrassed.

"Three ice cubes?" Dez asked.

"Just how you like it," Ally smiled back.

Trish, however, dumped cookie containers and chip bags on Dez's lap rather disdainfully and walked away to read her magazine by the window.

The brunette looked at Trish fondly before returning her gaze back to her patient. "I'm sorry but Dez, I'm going to have to cancel storytime."

"Aww! But we were gonna read about Pooh and Piglet and Christopher Robin and – "

Ally winced at his eagerness. "I know, I know, Dez. But Austin and I really gotta work on our song, okay?" The blonde sitting on the table perked up and stood up, beaming. Dez nodded solemnly. "You know what? Trish will read to you!" The fiery girl lifted up her equally fiery eyes.

"_What?"_

"And she'll do anything you ask," Ally added. Mischievous delight passed quickly over Dez's face before returning an innocent smile back to Ally.

"Thanks, Ally!"

"Sure thing. And I'm still sorry about not being able to read to you…"

"Hey! I never agreed to this!" Trish stomped over.

"I'm sure that customer earlier never agreed to have to pick out guitar strings out of his teeth for the next _week_," Ally quipped back.

Trish huffed but picked up the massive collection of _The Hundred Acre Wood Tales_. Ally glared at her pointedly, and Trish sighed, opening the book until she came upon the story. "Chapter one, in which we are – "

"No! You have to do the voice!" Dez whined.

"What _voice_? I'm not even reading the stupid story yet!"

"The dude who wrote it is British so…"

"I am _not_ doing a British accent!" Trish hissed. Ally tilted her head and widened her eyes like _come on!_ Trish sighed. It may have looked like she was guilt-tripping her, but it wasn't only that. Ally just looked like such a puppy. _Stupid big, innocent eyes._ Trish cleared her throat. "Chaptah one, in which are intraduced to…"

Ally smiled smugly and tiptoed up the stairs to the practice room while a certain fellow trailed behind.

"More Britishy!" Dez ordered.

"I'll show you more Britishy…" Trish mumbled.

"Anything I want, remember?" There was silence. "Aaaaall – "

"No! Don't call Ally. _Fine._"

Austin and Ally gave each other looks as they entered the practice room. Austin smirking, and Ally smiling fondly.

**The Practice Room – 5:30**

Ally sat down at the piano bench, taking out her phone. _Seven texts_, she remembered. The first six were Austin's, and before she could scroll down to see what the last one said, Austin had burst in. _In style_, she had to admit.

**hey, Ally. want to meet at melodys diner later after soccer practice?**

Ally checked the time on her phone. _Uh-oh._ It was already five thirty! And soccer ended at five…

**sorry i didnt text you – long story involving flying books…how about tomorrow?**

"Who ya textin'?" Austin asked curiously, peeking over her shoulder. He had been getting water from the fridge for both of them.

"Just Elliot," Ally sighed. "He wanted to meet up earlier, but I didn't get the text in time. I hope he's not mad at me." She bit her lip.

Austin did a mental fist pump. "Eh, he'll understand. He's Elliot," he said, surprised he defended _him_. He could have just shrugged, like what-are-you-gonna-do, but he didn't. _Huh._

"You're right," Ally smiled. "So. Back to the song. Wow, we haven't worked on it in about…two weeks?"

"Guess a lot of stuff has happened since then," Austin remarked bitterly.

"You okay? I know things have been kind of weird between us…" the brunette hesitantly said, biting her lip again.

_No kidding._ "It's all good. I do have a couple questions though," Austin replied. He looked down at the familiar piano keys waiting beneath his fingertips, unsure if he wanted to hear the answers. He flicked his brown eyes up to look at his best friend, who was waiting expectantly.

"Yeah…" she egged him on.

"AreyouandMarktogether?" he blurted.

Ally's eyes widened. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, uh…" Austin scratched the back of his neck. "I kinda saw…well, at the store…" he winced.

Ally looked at him curiously.

"Okay," he exhaled. "You two were…you know…ugh," he shuddered.

Ally's eyes practically bulged out of her head. "Oh," she whispered hoarsely. A nervous laugh. "Yeah. That." It was her turn to stare at the black and white keys. "Long story short, Mark wanted to get back together."

Austin turned bright red with rage. "_So you two are back – "_

"No. Nothing like that," she sighed, already tired of the subject. "He kissed me." Ally didn't notice Austin tense up. "I yelled at him. And then we sorta agreed to be friends. And then we had a…goodbye kiss. I guess we both needed some kind of closure. It wasn't exactly a _good_ breakup, if you can remember."

Oh Austin remembered. The crying, the late phone calls, the constant hugging. He was furious with Mark for making her hurt so much. Mark was one of the few people he hated.

"But that's it. I think he's a good guy now. I really do want to become friends with him," Ally admitted.

"Was…it good? Do you still like him?" he asked uncomfortably, but he had to know.

Ally looked up at him. He was staring at the piano keys again. "Actually, the kiss…" her companion cringed, "_it _wasn't bad. But I felt drained at the end of it. Like it had to take something out of me to kiss him. Almost like…it was really tough work I had to do, and it ended up just leaving me tired and kind of like an empty shell." She then remembered his other question. "And me liking him? No. I don't," she added softly. She caught a crooked smile.

"Next question," he said brightly, turning to face her. "Why'd you call me?"

"Oh, _that_," she laughed. "I thought you'd have figured it out by now!"

"You're the smart one!" he pointed out, grinning cheekily.

"I called you so we can work on the song, silly."

"Oh." He blushed. "I'm stupid."

"Yeah, but it's cute," she joked.

"Hey! At least – "

"No. We're not going to get into this argument again. We all know about my dancing skills and your so-called 'swagger'."

The blonde smirked. "_So-called?_"

"But," the brunette continued, "we have work on the song. And since it's already late and your fans are probably wondering what happened to you, we should finish the song we already started and make another one, too, to make up for it."

"Too…much…work…"

"Stop complaining!" the brunette scolded, only partially serious. "And besides, we can pull an all-nighter."

Austin seemed giddy. He loved all-nighters. And maybe they could get Dez and Trish to stay too. "Let's do this," he grinned, interlocking his fingers and stretching them.

…

"And then the chorus comes in there," Ally grinned. She realized that she missed writing songs with Austin. Or writing songs at all. She had been so busy with the drama of her life, writing songs seemed like a luxury she was much too busy for. The accomplishment you felt after each line was written, melting notes into each other to form perfect harmony, and just writing what was burdening your heart and mind felt so, so good.

She missed it. And maybe hanging out with Austin as much as she used to too.

"Yeah! Our song's almost done, Alls," the blonde boy said triumphantly, turning to her.

"Just one more to go!"

"_Ally…_" he groaned.

"_Austin!_" she laughed. Ally pushed him softly. He was so cute when he was being all jokey whiny and stuff...

He laughed too. "Yeah, yeah, I know.

"Good. Just taking a break from this one, though, what do you want the other song to be about?" she questioned him.

"Don't you always come up with those ideas?" he smirked.

"Austin, I can't _always_ come up with them. Lift a little more of the load," she nudged him.

The blonde smiled and then stared into space. He cocked his head and Ally couldn't help but notice how much more of a puppy it made him look. "It's just…I don't really have anything coming to mind, I guess."

Ally bit her lip, thinking. "Well, what's weighing heavy on your heart?" she asked simply. He turned to look at her curious, innocent face.

"Well…" he drawled out.

"Austin!" she scolded, pushing him.

He opened up his arms. "I dunno!" he laughed sheepishly. "That's such a cliché thing to say!"

She narrowed her eyes, then let it go. She was finally getting _somewhere _teaching him how to write a song. She couldn't get sidetracked. Ally bit her lip again. "Just…take whatever is on your mind, and write it down. I usually write the music first, because my thoughts flow better into music. Then when the music is done, I just match the lyrics to the notes because by then, I've figured out my feelings through deciphering them with my music…if that makes any sense," she said sheepishly. Austin nodded, looking down at her, entranced by her words. It was really good advice. "And so the lyrics just come naturally," she shrugged. "So yeah, exactly what I said, no matter how cliché or dumb it sounds. It's the truth. Write down what's burdening your heart. Everyone always has _something_." Ally was quiet, thinking. She added, "In the end…in the end, it always makes you feel better," she smiled looking up at Austin. He smiled back. "And besides," she playfully nudged him, "it makes for a great song."

"That's some pretty good advice, Alls," he sincerely stated. His smile was small, but it held a thousand notes of unsaid burdens, maybe about a very adorable girl who may or may not have been sitting beside him. Maybe.

"I know," Ally smugly said. She softly smiled back. They held each other's gazes for a second, because then –

"Yeah, I can stay," Trish casually burst in, preoccupied on her phone, with Dez not far behind.

"Me too!" he cheered.

"Dez! You…you seem okay now!" Ally brightly observed.

The redhead looked frantic and suddenly fainted. Everyone's eyes widened, except Trish, who shook her head at the body below her.

"Anyway, wanna order some pizza or somethin'?" she inquired.

"Yeah!" Austin exclaimed, distracted by the hope of food.

"Sure…" Ally managed to get out.

Dez winked at Trish, as if to say 'yes. pizza. yummy.'

"'Kay then. I'll call Domino's or whatever." She exited the room.

Ally, finally getting over her shock, tentatively approached Dez and crouched down next to him. "Aww, Dez," she cooed.

"Ally," the redhead rasped. Austin rolled his eyes. "I see…the _light_…"

"Maybe we should take you to a doctor," the brunette suggested. Her brow furrowed in worry and her lips puckered, thinking. _Cute_, Austin thought warmly.

"No!" Dez jumped. Ally sat back, startled. "I – I mean I'd rather my friends take care of me," he saved.

Austin shook his head fondly.

"If you're sure…?"

"I would be more sure if you would make me some of those cookies I like so much?"

"I would have to run back home and bake them…"

"Your book, Ally," Dez reminded her.

"Of, of course! I'm being silly. I'll be back here in an hour tops, my little gingerbread," Ally cooed while scratching Dez's belly.

He wriggled around in delight. Belly rubs were his weakness. "Okay," he managed.

Ally smiled, apologized to Austin, and hurriedly left the room. Austin walked over to his friend. "You're enjoying this too much, aren't you?"

"You should try it. I mean, you get all of Ally's motherly attention, she brings you anything you want, and she reads you bedtime stories!"

The blonde stroked his chin, like he had a beard. "Hmm. Interesting." _No more competition with Elliot…_ is what he didn't say, but the redhead saw the look on his best friend's face. He didn't need to.

**Ally's Kitchen - 8:00 pm**

"I just hope he isn't upset…" Ally mixed her bowl of specialty cookies she was baking for Dez vehemently, feeling so guilty.

"Ally, he's an understanding guy," Trish reasoned, sitting on the other side of the kitchen island. She wasn't really one to cook, or bake, or mix, or, come to think of it, help manually. "Hey, uh, Ally? Might wanna give the poor spatula a break.

"I know," Ally sighed to both of Trish's statements. She put the bowl and spatula down next to the two other batches she had made. Dez liked cookies.

"Maybe I should just call him?" she tried.

Trish gave her a look. Seeing Ally's huge eyes, she sighed. Handing her her home phone, she said, "If you need to…"

Ally smiled at Trish and took the phone. She punched the numbers in from memory. Pressing the phone to her shoulder, she added, "Could you also watch the cookies in the oven? They are done aaaat," the brunette paused, looking at the clock, "in ten minutes actually. Come to think of it, could you also put the batter on the trays too, please?" Not waiting for an answer she quickly shouted, "Thanks!" while running away.

"_Ally…"_ Trish grumbled. Dark curls floated over to the opposite end of the counter and started flying up and down as she vehemently shaped the cookies into dinosaurs.

* * *

Ally fled to her room as the phone rang. She flopped onto it patiently as a familiar voice picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi Mr. (forget if I gave him a last name or not. Ill look it up later! I tried and I have no idea where I put that random exchange with Elliot and his father)! How are you?" she politely inquired.

"I'm feeling great today, Ally," he said warmly. "How about you?"

"I'm fine!" she replied.

"So. Lemme guess: you called to chit-chat with me," he smiled.

"Of _course_. Pssh, who needs Elliot?" Ally joked.

Elliot's father gave a hearty laugh. "I know, but unfortunately I'm a bit busy, and Elliot's right here, so I guess you'll just have to settle for him."

"Oh, alright," she chuckled, faking disappointment.

She heard another booming laugh, and muffled explosions. "What is it, Dad?" she could faintly hear Elliot say. His father was probably stifling the microphone, but not very well.

"Your _girlfriend_ is on the phoo-ooone," his dad teased.

"_Dad!_"

"What? She can't hear me," he replied, oblivious to the curious brunette eavesdropping and blushing at the same time.

"Is…is that Ally?" _Is that Mark?_ Well, at least Elliot and Mark made up. Maybe that was what the explosions were. They were probably watching a movie.

"Uh, yeah," said Elliot stiffly. _Well, kind of made up._

Mark grunted.

There were a few scratchy background noises, and then Elliot greeted, "Hey, Ally."

"Hey! Um, so about earlier – I didn't see your text and then when I did I had already set up – "

"Ally. I got it," Elliot smiled.

"But…you didn't text back!" the brunette accused.

"I did. It must not have registered through yet. I have bad service at my house. You remember," he pointed out.

"Yes, I know. I just started feeling guilty so I – "

"Ally. Trust me. _Nothing_ to worry about, okay?" Ally could just see Elliot's pleading forest eyes, his easy smile.

"I guess I got worried over nothing," she mumbled.

"I'm just glad you care."

_Awwwwwwww!_ She beamed. Then blushed. _Uh-oh._ "Um. Heh. You know me! Ally! Caring as a Care Bear!" _CARE BEAR?!_

Elliot laughed. "And as cute as a kitten."

"Cute? Really? You think I'm cute?" she asked.

"I wouldn't have said it if I hadn't meant it."

_AAAWWWWWWWW! _She gulped. _Flirt back! Come on, Ally! You got this!_ "Thanks, Elliot. You're so…so sweet." _That's all you got? Really?_

She saw his smile widen. "Thanks, Ally. So. What's all this talk about flying books?"

* * *

**i have been totally slacking on the Elliot moments. i need to pull myself together! whew!**

**ok well i was thinking that a certain someone will write this song for herself: shes so gone by naomi scott. i just love the song and the movie and i just...love the song. if you guys havent seen lemonade mouth, then please, look it up, and tell me what you think! **

**so. goodnight, sleep tight!**


	17. Speak of the devil

**so it isnt much. like at all, but its somethin! i really havent been able to get on the computer because other people keep on hogging it. -.-**

**weeeeell, to be fair, i usually hog it, and its not even my laptop. but i want one. oh, how i want one.**

**so. i promise, more Elliot to come:**

* * *

"So is the book okay?" Elliot laughed.

"Yes! Yes, it is. Although some pages are crinkly now. And I just got it!" Ally complained. "You know, you're the only person who asked about the book. Thank you," she gushed sincerely.

"Well you kind of ranted mainly about the book," Elliot explained.

Ally blushed. "I just got it…" she replied in a small voice, embarrassed.

Elliot whispered into the phone, "Don't worry! I'd react the same way!"

Ally giggled. _Elliot and I understand each other so much…_

"ALLY! WHERE ARE YOU?" someone roared.

"Hey, what was that?" Elliot asked, worried.

"You mean who. That was Trish calling from downstairs," the brunette sighed.

"And I'm guessing you are upstairs…"

"Yeah."

"I knew she had a loud voice but…"

"Yeah. Well, I'd better go. But I'll see you tomorrow first thing with Madame." She shuddered.

"Just how I love to start off the morning," Elliot remarked sarcastically.

Ally laughed. "Bye! Have fun with the rest of your movie night! And sorry I interrupted."

"Nah, the movie's not really any good anyway. You were just saving us." Elliot added dejectedly, "Okay, bye."

"Bye!"

"Bye, Ally."

"Okay, bye!"

Elliot laughed. "Ally, we can't do this again. Last time it took us twenty minutes to hang up on each other." She heard someone groan in the background. _Probably Mark._

"Ow!"

"Don't be rude!"

"Elliot?"

"Sorry!"

"I'M GONNA FIND YOU!"

Ally cringed. Elliot said, "I guess you should go now."

"Yeah. Bye, for real this time. Nighty-night, don't let the bed bugs bite!" she added cheerfully.

"Sweet dreams, Ally Dawson."

BEEP.

Ally collapsed onto her bed, smiling uncontrollably. _Sweet dreams, Ally Dawson._ She sighed in contentment. So sweet! And cute! And _oh my gosh, even his voice sounds hot!_

"ALLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

_Way to ruin a moment, Trish._

**Sonic Boom – 7:15 pm**

Ally burst through the doors with an exhausted Trish behind her. "Come on, Trish! You're going to let all the bugs in!"

"You…" she glared, but the blaze in her eyes was dim – you know, for Trish. She was _exhausted._ She was carrying a basket full of warm cookies, maybe four batches. And she had to _walk_ in the _dark_ the fifteen to twenty minute_ trek_ to Ally's house, _both_ ways. And all for the goofy ginger who always managed to pinch out her every last nerve _all the time_.

But she couldn't help but be a little impressed with Dez. Just a tiny bit. She needed to guilt-trip Ally more often.

"Aww, Trish! You brought me cookies!"

_Speak of the devil._

Her stony gaze slowly rotated over to the 'bed-ridden', cheery, lanky boy comfortable, wrapped up again in cozy blankets. Oh, she knew just what to do with those blankets. Grab them, and just _pull_ them around his –

"Trish, I think you need to sit down." Her best friend took the basket, laid it gently down on the counter, and rushed back to lead those near explosive black curls to one of the other couches. Ally then grabbed a warm cookie from one of the baskets and wrapped Trish's fingers around it.

She smashed it between her fingers, still seething at Dez. Dez turned away to the wall, a bit scared for his life.

Meanwhile, Austin had already ascended upon the cookies while Ally took care of Trish. He hid behind the counter every time Ally came by, as she was busy preparing treats for the other two kids in the cubby.

He giggled quietly to himself. _Cookies!_ He slipped a hand up again…

SLAP!

The blonde stood up hugging his hand. "Ow! That…hurt," he mumbled as he looked down into those motherly doe eyes.

"Bad boy!" she chastised.

He leaned over the counter, leaving only a couple of inches between their faces. The blonde then bat his lashes, tilted his head, and pouted his lip. The puppy dog look.

"Pleeease?" he asked in a low, quiet voice.

She almost shivered, but instead just let herself swallow. Hard. "Mm-mm," she stubbornly hummed, shaking her head slightly.

He leaned closer. Ally could see every detail on his chiseled face, every sparkle in his chocolate eyes. _What? Come on, Ally. You were just flirting with Elliot not twenty minutes ago! Have you no _shame_?!_ "Fine," she spit out shakily, grabbing a cookie and stuffing it in Austin's mouth.

He looked back at her in surprise. His face was riddled with crumbs now. _Kinda cute…_

Her eyes widened even more. "Eatmorecookies!" she blurted out and then ran up the stairs.

"What?!" the shocked boy yelled.

"Eat cookies!" Ally yelled back. "They're good for you!" she added hastily, shutting the practice room door behind her.

"I _knew_ it!" Dez proclaimed, walking up beside Austin. "See? You guys should listen to me more often."

The blonde just stared at the white door upstairs, bewildered.

* * *

**when i said more Elliot, i didnt mean just this chapter. hes gonna come back, dont worry. :)**

**so ive been sending letters to this woman who used to be one of my childhood friends. shes been having an hard time, i had extra time...letter time! seriously though, i love this woman. shes awesome and kind and has been put through so much. i want to help her, but theres really no way i can since im a kid and all. but i did send her that letter, and i was scared she was going to i dunno be mad or offended or something? i dunno. but i sent her the letter, and i talked to her husband today, and he said that she cried when she read it. she loved it. it touched her. and it just gave me a great feeling, and i just recently sent her another letter. so uh...i guess the lesson is, no matter how stupid you may look, do what you think you should do. or maybe if you try to do something nice, and it comes out all wrong, know that you did it with good intentions and nothing else should matter. even if the person on the receiving end doesnt appreciate it too! you meant it with good intentions, and thats all that matters.**

**ok im done trying to say something inspiring. when i do, i think it just comes out awkward. eh.**

**well, please review! i would reeeeeeaaaaalllllyyyyyy love it if you did! no one really reviewed on the last chapter. or even reply to my song suggestion. :(. i know, i know, you guys may be busy, but even a smiley face will inspire me! please! review! **

**thanks for reading, and keep being lovely! :)**


	18. From Class to Class of Marino High

**i dont really like the beginning of this. maybe ill edit it? i dunno. mm. way to sell it, me! yeah i know right?**

**sorry. but hopefully youll enjoy the last part. i like it at least. well...um:**

* * *

**The Practice Room – 7:25**

Austin entered the room. "Hey, you okay? You just ran off back there," he said, pointing his thumb over to the other side of the store.

Ally was sitting down on the piano bench, not willing to look up. _No, he will think that you're weird. Stop it! Look at him. _She looked up into his face and smiled nervously. "Yeah, no I just forgot to uh…mm." The brunette looked down again, wanting so badly to bite her hair.

"Ally?"

_Don't come any closer…_

He walked up to the piano bench and put a hand on her shoulder. It was comforting and insanely tingly at the same time.

_Darn it._

"Ally, what's wrong?" he asked, coming up behind her and rubbing her back.

_Stop touching me._

Austin put both hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face him. As an afterthought, he sat down on the piano bench, opening up his legs so that both his feet were on opposite sides of the bench. He positioned her again, and she moved her legs so that she was comfortable in the inverted position. His hands didn't let go.

_Darn it._

He looked straight into her eyes, no matter how hard they were to catch. Both hands firmly on her shoulders, he asked worriedly, "Are you okay?"

_Darn it!_

There was electricity between them. Ally couldn't explain it. There were sparks everywhere. Where his gentle hands made contact with her naked skin, she stifled a shiver. She wanted to feel his hair and he wanted to hold her close, so that there was nothing between them. But there was all this, this _stuff _inbetween them that she couldn't ignore. That stuff was what held not only Ally, but Austin back. They pulled themselves out of their own moment.

Then she finally looked up into his eyes. They were trained on her, pleading for her to talk to him. His eyebrows were furrowed, and he was tense.

"Ally…?" he softly wondered. _Right. He asked a question._

But her eyes just explored every contour of his face, every soft curve. His eyes looked so soft, and his lips…

She reddened. It didn't help that he had slowly moved his hands over her arms, trailing down to her own. She shivered involuntarily. Austin mistook it for the start of illness, though. "Are you cold?" Not waiting for her to answer, he hugged her against him. Maybe because he thought she was cold. Maybe because he just wanted to hug her.

Ally let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

And they just stayed there. Like that.

…

Eventually they got to finishing the song. Ally released herself from the embrace first, and after they got done all their blushing, they finished it.

"There! All done," the blonde triumphantly smiled.

"Next song!"

"Aaaallyyyy…" he groaned.

"Austin," she scolded, "For your fans."

That shut him up.

"So," the excited girl next to him turned to him expectantly.

"What?" He looked down at her, smiling at her enthusiasm.

"You were going to say what the song was to be about, remember? Before Trish barged in." Her innocent doe eyes looked up eagerly.

Austin shrank, remembering the moment, what words were about to form on his tongue. Words that he wouldn't have been able to take back. Words that could have devastated a partnership. A friendship. "I dunno…"

Suddenly Ally got up. He stared back at her, startled. "You know what, Austin? I think you can make this song up all by yourself."

"What are you doing?!"

She gathered up her things. "I am being supportive and assertive by leaving you to your own devices."

"W-what?!" he spluttered. "That-that doesn't even make any sense!"

Ally looked him straight in the eye. "Austin, I believe in you. I really think that you're able to write at least one song, all by yourself."

She turned away, but he grabbed her wrist frantically. "But I need you!"

Ally took a deep breath. _We're talking about writing a song here._ She turned around slowly. "Austin, you can do this! Just remember all my writing tips and you will be _fine_. You have the entire night and the rest of the week to do this, until the weekend when Dez will film you singing during a live podcast." She paused, knowing how bad that sounded. "But no pressure," she added weakly. Ally winced. _'No pressure'?! Seriously?!_ Why did she always have to keep on talking?

"Wow. Thanks, Alls," Austin mumbled.

She took his hand in both of hers, ignoring the sparks she felt. She saw it was comforting to him. "Just write what's on your heart, okay? Don't worry; I will just be downstairs, taking care of Dez. I'll bring you some snacks!" she smiled. And then she was gone.

"Mmm. Snacks…"

_What's on my heart. What. Is. On. my. Heart. What _is_ on my heart?_ Smelling the fragrance of newly popped extra buttery popcorn, he thought, _Food. Food is on my heart…_

He drooled. "No, Austin! Stay focused." He sat up and started to slowly walk around the room. "Now, sometimes Ally would start with a feeling she's been feeling. Hmm…" he tapped his fingers on his lips. "Confusion. Hate. Betrayal." He knit his eyebrows together. "Doesn't really sound like me," he pondered in surprise. "Stupid Mark," he mumbled. He blamed him. As an afterthought he added, "And Elliot too."_Though he's really not that bad…_

"Song. I'm thinkin' of a song, yeah!" he sang. _That's not gonna help._

"Right. Feelings, feelings. _Positive _feelings," he added. "Okay, okay, okaaaaay. Um, comfort. Friendship! Wait no, that's not a feeling…"

Austin's eyes traversed the room. Maybe he could look at something and then pinpoint a feeling to it. Looking at the huge A on the wall, he thought out loud, "Me! Darn it! Not a feeling either." His eyes wandered to the fridge. "Mmmmm…if only I could put _that_ into words," he grumbled, sitting down on the piano bench. "Ally would be able to…" He turned away from the fridge.

Austin looked at the piano fondly, reminiscing. How many times had Ally and he pulled all-nighters here? How many times had he sat playing his favorite songs – the ones Ally wrote for him, of course – on that same piano? How many times had this piano helped Austin and Ally write their hit songs? The answer now was simple. "Love."

**French Class – Wednesday**

"You okay, Ally? You seem tired," Elliot asked.

Ally slumped even more in her seat. She was wearing a big blue t-shirt and black shorts with white sneakers. Not a floral pattern in sight. She hadn't even bothered with jewelry! "How'd you guess that?" she drawled. "The dark circles under my eyes or the fact that my hair's in a bun?"

It was pretty messy. "Hey, you still look beautiful," the green-eyed boy said sincerely, leaning over.

"Aw, Elliot…" Ally fondly cooed before laying her head on his shoulder and drifting into sleep.

Until three minutes later when Madame stormed into the room. "BONJOUR MA CLASSE DE FRANCAIS!"

"AHH!" Ally shrieked. Elliot almost jumped out of his seat, if not for remembering Ally was leaning on his shoulder.

"ALLY MARIE DAWSON! NO SLEEPINGOR SCREAMING IN MY CLASS!"

"Class didn't even start yet," a classmate murmured.

"Hypocrite," another mumbled.

But Madame didn't hear this, for she was at that age where your five senses start flying out the window (…along with your sanity. Whoops. Did I say that?), and fortunately too, because if she heard those kids, it was the end of their lives as we know it.

"J-je suis t-tres desolee, Madame," Ally stuttered.

She stopped yelling. "Vhatever. Iz your learning you interrupted. If you two vont to sleep together, sleep all you vont. But it vill not be my fault that you do not get into a good college," she wagged her finger at the tomato-red couple. Everybody was snickering.

"She didn't just say…" Elliot started.

Ally cleared her throat. "Yeah. Let's um, just not talk about it."

Nodding emphatically, Elliot turned back to his desk, listening to Madame yelling at the rest of the class to stop laughing.

"I SAID STOP! Vhy are you laughing anyway? Vas it somezing I said?"

**English Class – Wednesday**

During partner work, Austin and Dez finished their poster. They high-fived and sat down, satisfied.

After a moment, Dez wondered, "What're you doing about the new song?" Ally had told Dez and Trish everything. She wouldn't stop going on and _on _and _ON_ about how much she believed it Austin and how if you believe anything can happen, and yada, yada, yada. Dez and Trish would have slept, but Ally would just wake them up again and then put them back to sleep…at least she made popcorn. Extra buttery too!

"I actually got started on it. I didn't think I could do it, but Ally told me," here Austin looked around to make sure no one was listening and lowered his voice, "she told me to write what's in my heart."

"Aww! How cute. So what _was_ in your heart?" Dez turned to his best friend curiously.

Austin looked around and saw a group of girls looking at them and giggling. "Dez!" he shushed. "Not so loud!"

Dez snickered and said, "Fine. AUSTIN, WHAT _WAS_ IN – "

"SHH!"

Not being patient enough to annoy Austin (even though he was Dez, the lack of sleep did get to him), Dez gave him a look. "Just tell me."

Austin looked around _again_ and said, "Well, it was hard at first. But then I looked at me and Ally's piano, and it hit me – love."

"So you _do_ admit you're in love with Ally." The redhead looked smug. "_Finally._ Do you know how long – "

Austin was taken aback. "Why would you say that?!"

Dez gave him the duh tone and looked at him weirdly. "You said you looked at the piano and was reminded of Ally."

"No! I meant that I've shared a lot of good times with Ally at the piano. And without her too!" he added, seeing the expression Dez was giving him. "I love that old piano," he said with a fond smile.

"Uh-huh," Dez hummed slowly.

Austin looked him up and down. "What?"

"No, I was just agreeing with you."

"Dez, I heard you. You said 'uh-huh' but didn't really mean it."

"Austin, I think you heard wrong."

The blonde flung out his arms. "What did you mean?!"

"Fine. No need to get so fired up." Austin rolled his eyes. "I'm just saying that I think you're makin' a love song about…" here he winked. The group of girls was listening intently to their conversation, and it was obvious to both boys.

"Dez, you can say it. You think it's about Kiera."

The redhead face-palmed in exasperation.

**Middle of the school day – Wednesday**

Trish and Dez acknowledged each other in the halls sure, but if they ever had classes together, Trish would ignore him and Dez would annoy her. It was their relationship.

So when Dez walked up to her with a frustrated expression drawn on his features, she didn't really know what to do. So she went with her usual mood.

"Unless you have something to useful to say – which I doubt – _go away_." She laid her head back on her desk, exhausted. It was free time in social studies…like it was every other day.

Ignoring her, Dez took a desk and a chair, scooted it so that it was across from Trish's, and sat down. "I'm just getting so…annoyed, you know?"

Trish sighed, knowing that sleep would not be possible for the rest of the class period. "About what, Dez?" she asked in a tone that screamed to leave her alone.

But of course, he kept on talking. "About Austin and Ally!" the redhead exclaimed.

Curls flew as Trish popped her head up to look at him. She noticed dark circles under his eyes, too. But Dez, no matter how sleep deprived, was always full of energy. Trish on the other hand, was cranky when she didn't get her ten hours, _plus_ a latte.

"What about them?" she questioned curiously.

Dez rested his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand. "They don't know how right they are for each other. I feel like I'm Patrick in _A Lover's Loss_," he mumbled.

"Aren't Ally and Elliot right for each other too?" Trish snapped back.

Dez looked outside the window. "Well, yeah I guess. But Ally and Elliot…they just…they don't have that 'wow' factor, you know?"

"'Wow' factor?" Trish smirked.

"Yeah. I mean, take it from a guy who watches romance movies. Ally and Elliot don't have what her and Austin have. Sooner or later, sometime down the line, Ally and Elliot will get tired of each other. Same with Austin and Kiera. I mean yeah, Austin's exciting, but then they _will_ get tired of each other. Austin and Ally just have this…_spark_."

Trish was about to retort back to defend her green-eyed friend, but then her teacher, who was stapling something to the wall, or Trish at least _thought_ he was but instead he was really eavesdropping, asked intently, "Then why aren't they together?"

Dez answered, "Because they both choose to deny their feelings. They both think that they're stuck in unrequited love. When Ally realized she liked Austin, she was preparing a date for him and another girl, Kiera."

"What about Austin?" a classmate who was sitting behind Trish pondered.

"Well, when he realized he liked Ally, Elliot was in the picture. They don't even know that the other one likes them," he said sadly.

More people were starting to crowd around them, pulling up chairs. Trish looked around, bewildered. "Hey! These are our friends' lives, not your entertainment!"

The social studies teacher, Mr. Brown said, "If you tell us everything you both get As for the rest of the year."

"Deal!"

…

"And that's why I'm so sad," Dez finished. The class awed.

Stacey, a girl next to Dez, remarked, "How sad. It's just like _A Lover's Loss_."

"People actually watch those movies? Wow," Trish thought out loud. Stacey gave her a dirty look.

A boy named Darien spoke up, "Now that Austin knows that Ally doesn't like Mark, will he take back asking out Kiera?"

"I don't think so," Dez replied. "Austin still denies that Ally likes him, and vice-versa."

"Why?" a couple people questioned.

Trish answered this time. "Because Ally is always with Elliot in Austin's mind, and Austin is still dating Kiera for all Ally knows. They've stopped telling each other about their love lives."

"They used to tell each other everything," Dez sighed, and Trish nodded sympathetically.

Mr. Brown inquired, "Well what about you, Trish? Whose team are you on? Austin or Elliot?"

All eyes turned on her. "Why does that matter, anyway?" she snapped.

"Because you are a great manipulator. You would twist things the way you wanted them to be."

Her classmates stared at her almost accusingly. "Yeah, I guess that's true…" she fidgeted.

"And because you are Ally's best and longest standing friend. What you decide will affect her decision."

Trish had never thought of that. "I want what's best for Ally," she simply shrugged.

"Of course." She felt their stares intensify. Dez actually peeled his eyes away from the window for once to look at her curiously.

"It's just…I…" she scrunched her face in aggravation. "That's no fair!" she yelled like a child before springing up from her seat and running for the bathrooms.

* * *

**hmm. when i said last chapter i needed to put in more Elliot...sorry. you just get caught up in the writing, you know? so everybody in this chapter's a bit cranky if you couldn't tell. which just made it funner to write (FUNNER IS A WORD. READ FRINDLE.) even Ally got dry and sarcastic! :)**

**i really liked writing Trish's part cause i guess i never really stressed her confusion with choosing someone cause i havent been in her point of view lately, which is sad. cause i love her! and in the last chapter i realized i never really showed Austins playery side and that was a bad way of showing it. how it processed in my mind was that things were just starting to get back to normal and Austin always hit on her, as kind of a joke and they never took it seriously cause they only considered themeslves as friends, right? so when theyre just starting to get back to normal Austin does his thing and then Ally gets all fidgety.**

**thing is, the way i pictured the beginning of this chapter in my head was that they were going to kiss. i couldnt see it going anywhere else. but i couldnt do that because well...i cant say anything without spoilering it. so i kind of awkwardly made them hug. awkwardly. yeah, sorry about that. but uhh, trust me, more Elliot to come!**

**so the divergent trailer came out! yes! i mean, not much of a trailer but its ****_something, _****right? for all of you who have no idea what im talking about, divergent was a book, and then i found out it got accepted as a movie! but i did not picture Tris as Shailene Woodley. but i guess shes ok? i dunno never watched secret life. buuuuut i just wrote a really long authors note.**

**sorry.**

**okay review please! stay safe and happy and healthy and sugar and spice and everything nice! :D**

**and thanks for all the nice reviews. they give me joy :D**


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